Interviews
As a businessman, engineer, and philanthropist, Robert F. Smith has been invited to speak on a wide range of issues.
This is the sixth video of a series taken from the Racial & Economic Justice Town Hall hosted by Roland Martin on April 11, 2021. Robert F. Smith explains that unpacking and educating financial ideas is essential to helping communities understand what to ask for and for policy makers to shape the financial future of the people they represent.
This is the fifth video of a series taken from the Racial & Economic Justice Town Hall hosted by Roland Martin on April 11, 2021. Robert F. Smith explains how exclusionary practices have kept Black financial capital from taking part in reaping the benefits of investments. But he also describes how communities can apply pressure to gain access.
This is the fourth video of a series taken from the Racial & Economic Justice Town Hall hosted by Roland Martin on April 11, 2021. Robert F. Smith further describes his ideas about how modernized banking infrastructure can assist small Black businesses to scale and take part in the digital economy.
This is the third video of a series taken from the Racial & Economic Justice Town Hall hosted by Roland Martin on April 11, 2021. In this clip, Robert F. Smith describes how to build the financial architecture needed for thriving ecosystems to exist in Black communities.
This is the second video of a series taken from the Racial & Economic Justice Town Hall hosted by Roland Martin on April 11, 2021. Robert F. Smith talks about how driving capital to Black communities means ensuring small banks can extend credit to local businesses so that those businesses can begin to scale.
This first video of a series taken from the Racial & Economic Justice Town Hall hosted by Roland Martin on April 11, 2021 introduces the concepts and historical economic practices that led to the current moment in history.
Robert F. Smith participated in a discussion on MSNBC India, with Rev. Al Sharpton, about the state of accessible technology, specifically broadband in the United States. In this clip the subject under discussion is the lack of broadband in cities affecting urban minorities. The topic closed on President Biden’s infrastructure bill and how it could close the digital divide.
Robert F. Smith spoke on MSNBC India, with others including Rev. Al Sharpton, advocating for a solution wherein private and public sectors to work together to close the digital divide facing students and workers in the U.S. Smith talks about providing affordable quality access to broadband for all.
The Breakfast Club invited Smith to speak about how new software can help minority-owned small businesses more easily access the Payment Protection Program funds to secure much-needed relief for their business impacted by coronavirus.
Robert F. Smith spoke to students at his Alma Mater, Columbia Business School, at the Columbia Black Business Students Association’s ELEVATE Conference on March 25, 2017. Smith, who received his MBA from Columbia in 1994, spoke with Darius Grant (‘17) about his career path and the opportunities that are available to students who are graduating and entering the workforce today.