For most of modern African history, the large industrial projects were financed abroad. Foreign banks, foreign development finance, foreign shareholders — and the profits followed the ownership out.

A public offer of this size asks a different question: can the continent's own pension funds, institutions and ordinary savers hold a piece of the biggest thing built here?

If the answer is yes, it changes what gets built next and who benefits when it works. If it falls short, the old pattern continues.

That is why this is a culture story and not only a business one. Ownership is the part of the conversation that has been missing.

The question is not who built it. It is who gets to own it.