Nairobi, Aug. 18 -- Kenya has just done something few countries get the chance to do. The Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, 2026 creates an institution with the potential to change how this country relates to its natural resource wealth for generations to come, converting what is dug from the ground today into an asset still serving Kenyans 100 years from now. That is worth taking seriously, and right.

In 2016, while undertaking postgraduate study at the University of Nairobi, I researched this question because it seemed one of the most consequential a country in Kenya's position could face. Kenya's fund existed only as a proposal then.

The research compared it against five countries that had already built such funds, and against the internati...