Billionaire Robert F. Smith made a splash in 2019 when, during his commencement address at Morehouse College, he announced he would pay off all the student debt of the 396 graduating seniors.
The ripples of change that have emerged from that $34 million have been far-reaching — transforming the lives of the graduates and providing insights on how student debt can cripple innovation and entrepreneurship.
A documentary titled The Gift is being produced by two of those 2019 Morehouse graduates, Joshua Reed and Emani Rashad, to track the impact of Smith’s donation.
Smith, founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, was given a hero’s welcome this week when he was the keynote speaker at the April 1 luncheon of the Rotary Club of Atlanta.
Upon introducing Smith, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens jokingly observed that during the lunch, he had been overshadowed by Smith because “everyone wanted to talk to Robert Smith” rather than the mayor.
Attendees at the Rotary lunch included Morehouse graduates, Black entrepreneurs and others in Atlanta’s technology venture space — including some of the companies that have been supported by Vista Equity and Smith.
Dickens said Smith represented a desire to create positive change, just like Atlanta. “We see a kindred spirit,” Dickens said of Smith.
It just so happens that Dickens, a 1998 Georgia Tech graduate in chemical engineering, also has close ties to the tech world, and the mayor has touted Atlanta’s place as a center for technology and entrepreneurship during his tenure.
“Under Mayor Dickens, Atlanta has become unambivalent about the fact we want to be a tech hub,” Morehouse College President David Thomas said during a conversation with Smith at Atlanta Rotary. “There are a number of entrepreneurs here. We are in the tech space. A number of them are Morehouse Men.”
Then Thomas made it clear that Smith, who received an honorary degree from Morehouse in 2019, was part of the family.
“He is a Morehouse man,” Thomas said. He added that Atlanta has been on Smith’s radar for the past two decades, with Vista Equity having moved several companies to the city, adding to Atlanta’s reputation as a growing tech hub.
“This is a place where we have found an amazing workforce,” Smith said. “The workforce here is more diverse than in other places. You are very much in the heavyweight class to move technology forward and America forward. The center of gravity is always on your side.”
During the conversation, Smith gave a shout-out to his friend Bernice King, CEO of the King Center, who recently became a member of Rotary. Smith said he and Bernice King are partners in building the Beloved Community, a vision promoted by her father, Martin Luther King Jr., who was a graduate of Morehouse.
One of Smith’s philanthropic initiatives is the Southern Communities Initiative, which is working in six southern cities: New Orleans, Birmingham, Charlotte, Houston, Memphis and Atlanta.
The “catalytic consortium to accelerate racial equity” is focused on those communities because they house more than half of all African Americans in the United States, according to its website. In Atlanta, the Southern Communities Initiative is led by Bernice King and Jay Bailey, president and CEO of the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs.
Diversity, equity and inclusion were important themes throughout the lunch conversation. From Smith’s perspective, it makes good management sense – proudly proclaiming that in its 24 years in business, Vista Equity Partners has one of the most diverse workforces and boards in the industry.
“To me, it has helped me make more money,” Smith said. “Diversity actually reduces risk and increases profitability.”
Thomas, who was installed as the president of Morehouse in January 2018, then publicly thanked Smith for giving him job security in 2019. When Smith announced that he would be paying all the student debt of 2019 graduates, Thomas saw the faces of his board members, imagining what they were thinking. “We can’t fire this guy.”
While in Atlanta, Smith sat down for an exclusive interview with the documentary filmmakers of “The Gift,” according to a Morehouse social media post. The documentary, scheduled to premiere this fall, will dive into the current American student debt crisis, while assessing the 2019 Morehouse class as a case study for what post-undergraduate life can look like without the burden of student debt. Smith, however, has urged the 2019 graduates to pay it forward.
In fact, one of Smith’s philanthropic efforts is the Student Freedom Initiative, which creates a revolving fund for paying off student debt with an expectation that those graduates will continue to replenish the fund when they are able. Smith said the Initiative has raised $270 million toward a goal of $500 million.
But Smith added that it’s not necessary to go to college to become a success.
“Not everyone should go to college to get a degree,” said Smith, adding there’s value in apprenticeships and learning to become a plumber or electrician. “We need to encourage our citizens to figure out their highest and best use.”
