Nairobi, June 30 -- A society can tolerate the failure of most companies. It cannot function without some systems.

That distinction has acquired new urgency. Modern economies depend on payment networks, cloud infrastructure, digital platforms and communications systems that are privately owned but underpin public life. Institutions are therefore forced to answer a question they were never designed for: what happens when systems that shape everyday public life remain private?

Every era produces organisations that become woven into its economic order. Medieval trading leagues once controlled the commercial arteries of Europe. Chartered companies later moved goods, capital and imperial influence across continents.

One of them, the East In...