NBA basketball star Michael Jordan is a known billionaire and supposedly the richest African-American in the United States. But not everybody knows about Robert Smith, who is a private equity tycoon and yes, he is richer than Michael Jordan.

Forbes magazine recently featured the man and he has instantly become a huge inspiration to a lot of people, especially in the African American community in this country. His love for Computer Science made him the successful man he is today. He his passion for technology started when he was only in high school back in the 1970's. He was particularly intrigued about the transistor. A small device that controls the flow of electrons in the computer. Bell Labs invented it, and the man who owns it has a branch just near Smith's place.

He snagged an internship in the company for the summer and he was lucky enough to have been granted such an opportunity because the company is not known for taking interns, unless the student belongs to the upper class. He was a straight A student and he was very passionate about math and science. But those aren't exactly the reasons why he got in. Actually, he was even rejected at first. But he was persistent and would call the company everyday for two weeks about the internship. Due to his perseverance, he was finally granted the position. It was not until after an MIT student didn't show up that he got a call back.

One of his inspirational talks during a graduation ceremony at the American University this year was not just inspiriing but definitely a driving force to his listeners as well. He said, "I ran my own race. I knew what I wanted, and my persistence paid off, and I came in and interviewed. They liked me, and I got the internship."

He is a stubborn fellow and it got him somewhere. Now he is among Forbes 400 richest people along side Michael Jordan and Oprah Winfrey, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.