HE takes the words right out of my mouth. ''I'm pretty low-key, aren't I?'' David Sibbald grins and winces in mock shame, as he goes on to sketch his younger self in rather unflattering terms. ''I've always been a bit of an anorak, to

be honest. I preferred surfing the

net to attending student parties - sad but true - but it paid off in the end, didn't it?''

There is no doubt of that. Today, Sibbald, 41, is a multi-millionaire and one of Scotland's brightest communications' software entrepreneurs. He has the respect of his peers in the global technology market thanks to his determination, vision, and an intoxicating approach to business.

After working in South Africa and San Jose, California, after college, he returned to Scotland and set up Atlantech Technologies with two colleagues, working from his bedroom and saving every penny to get off the ground. A few years later, in May 2000, he sold the company to US networking giant Cisco Systems for (pounds) 114m.

Impressive stuff, yet those who do not pore over the Financial Times could be forgiven for never having heard of the bespectacled Glaswegian. He is no Tom Hunter or Richard Emanuel, and people would not recognise him as they would David Murray or Michelle Mone. Far from being a high-profile operator, he prefers to remain - well - low-key.

However, a passionate belief in a particularly ambitious venture that is close to his heart has forced him into the limelight. He plans to use money made in business boardrooms to begin the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

Echoing a similar philanthropic philosophy to US computer billionaire Bill Gates and his wife, Miranda, who have funded charity projects across the world, Sibbald and his wife,

Catriona, two years ago launched the Kate MacAskill Foundation. It redirects funds made through business

into combating poverty and hardship for children.

Sibbald says: ''We called the foundation after Catriona's grandmother, an amazing lady, aged 99, who hails from the Isle of Lewis. Her family was forced to emigrate to Canada because of economic hardship, and when she finally returned to Scotland she was very principled and believed strongly in helping your fellow human being.''

Their latest idea sees the unlikely coupling of big business with Unicef, the United Nation's Children's Fund, to deliver one of the first humanitarian aid projects in Afghanistan.

Money raised by Sibbald's foundation, boosted with profits from the Scottish European Tech Tour, will rebuild 10 schools, educate 60 teachers, and put 600 Afghani primary-schoolchildren back into education.

The project will be supported by a mass mobilisation campaign, spearheaded by the Afghan Interim Administration and supported by Unicef to encourage parents to register their children for class.

The aim is to increase attendance at schools and other learning environments after years of disruption caused by conflict and political restriction. In 1999 there was an estimated primary school population of 4.4million, but only 32% of boys and 8% of girls participated in any form of education. Currently, around 96% of women, who were kept from any form of education, are illiterate.

The campaign has been entitled Sabakh, which translates as: ''Let's Learn.'' Sibbald, a graduate in the

late 1970s of what is now Glasgow Caledonian University, said the learning denied to females struck him and his wife strongly, particularly because they have two daughters of their own.

''Catriona and I felt that something should be done on a practical level to help the people of Afghanistan rebuild their community. In my mind that begins with education,'' he says. ''Although they have suffered for years under a harsh ruling regime, the war being waged by the west has added to their plight. I'm not convinced we should have gone in with guns blazing in the first place. The perpetrators of the New York terrorism should be brought to justice, but to hunt an individual by way of a war always ends with the poorest and most vulnerable people being hurt. And there's no sign that Osama bin Laden is near to being captured, despite all that has happened.''

He refuses to divulge how much money it will take to fund rebuilding of the primary schools, but it is thought it will run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Half of the

cash was raised through the Scottish European Tech Tour, which persuades high-powered global financiers from different countries to spend three days in Scotland meeting and viewing showcases from hopeful entrepreneurs. Those companies involved agreed to donate the proceeds of the tour, and the MacAskill Foundation matched the amount of money raised.

''I wouldn't normally have felt the need for publicity regarding the foundation's work, but I felt this time the sponsors and participants involved in the tech tour, who were so supportive of the Afghani plans, deserved some recognition and thanks,'' he says.

He stresses that the erecting of the Kabul schools, most of which need to be completely rebuilt, will be carried out by local workmen and added that it will be Afghani teachers who will be retrained and given the chance to stand in front of a classroom again.

''It is time business took a leadership stance in supporting humanitarian projects such as this,'' he says. ''There is a growing chasm between cultures around the world which my industry has played a large part in. The gulf between cultures which can provide this kind of advanced technology and those who can't is enormous.''

For him, the Kabul project seems an obvious one to undertake. ''We in the west have a responsibility to step in and help rebuild the Afghanistan infrastructure. The people have had an incredibly difficult time over the past 20 years and now a war is

being waged inside their borders. But what happens when the military pulls out? We have seen all too often that once a country falls out of the news headlines, the momentum to help, practically and financially, can dissipate, too.''

The Afghanistan education venture is not the first undertaken by the MacAskill Foundation. Two health- orientated projects for children have gone ahead in Sri Lanka and Zambia. Many of the youngsters involved had been orphaned owing to HIV.

Stories of tragedy cram news bulletins every evening, but most people tend to forget them as soon as the off-button is pushed.

So what motivates a man worth

millions to pay any attention, never mind give his hard-earned money away? Shouldn't he be lounging on a yacht with his family?

He looks aghast at the thought. In fact, talking about himself, his successes, his money, makes him visibly uncomfortable. ''I don't like being in the spotlight, myself. I know there are more high-profile entrepreneurs than me, and I say good luck to them - my comfort zone is a lot quieter.''

Sibbald lives with his wife and

children - Laura, 15, Amanda, 12, and Mark, eight - in Glasgow's south side, not far from where he grew up. He was a pupil of Kings Park secondary and raised in a working-class environment with a mother who stayed at home and a father who worked in education for 40 years.

''My parents believed in striving for what you get and knowing the value of money. It's something my own

children will be encouraged to do. Second-generation wealth does not have a good track record where

kids are concerned, so mine will be encouraged to avoid complacency and be independent.''

He adds: ''We don't have an extraordinary lifestyle. I believe you can only stay in one house, drive one car at a time, eat three meals a day. When you have everything you need, why should your money just sit in the bank until you die? Why not give some back? Those in the business world can more than afford to.''

But what does he get out of this emotionally, especially considering his apparent reluctance for publicity surrounding his charity work. ''What's the reward? To know that something is being done.

''To think that, in this age, a child can exist without the most basic of healthcare or education needs met is obscene to me.''

Catriona holds the foundation's reigns. He smiles: ''Catriona is a strong person. Not quite the girl next door when I met her, she was more the girl down the street. We share similar goals in life and have the same strong feelings about how we want to contribute. Knowing that kids are starving, suffering, and dying is unacceptable to us.''

He laughs again when recalling

that his wife-to-be was initially unimpressed by the quiet lad obsessed

by computers.

''I was two years below her at school so I had to admire her from afar. Two years is a huge gap when you are that young. It was after we left school and she had just finished her nursing training that we met up again, and I persuaded her to talk to me.''

The inevitable comparison drawn between the charity ventures of Sibbald and Bill Gates does not perturb him. ''Bill Gates gets a lot of criticism, but I admire him greatly. He has given billions to good causes

over the years, and really does try to create something positive from his personal wealth.

''He's a good role model to business people and, while the sums of money Catriona and I raise are nowhere near as large as his, we have a similar philosophy.''

After working with Cisco Systems, then the tech tour and the Kate MacAskill Foundation, Sibbald is preparing his latest business brainchild, Sumerian Networks, to be launched in April. While excited about the new company, he says he and his wife's charity work will continue to grow.

''We are committed to the Afghanistan schools plans. There are people to pay and buildings to be erected out there. It is a serious, long- term commitment, which we want to see develop.''

He adds: ''This project is a tiny start on a massive problem. If anything, I hope it will act as some form of

catalyst for increased aid to reach Afghanistan and get the children there the education we in the west take so much for granted.

''I could never be low-key about that.''