On Monday, Sept. 14, Aliko Dangote opened ownership of Africa’s largest infrastructure project, the Dangote petroleum refinery in Lagos, to the general public. In what Dangote characterized as “an IPO for the people”—with 4.1 billion shares priced at ₦525 (about 39 cents American)—his intention is to allow average Nigerians to share in the benefits of his monumental investment. Immediate demand for the shares was so great that it reportedly overwhelmed the server capacity of at least two Nigerian brokerage houses, temporarily taking them off-line.

The IPO event will continue for four weeks, after which Dangote is expected to have raised over ₦2.1 trillion (about $1.6 billion), money which he already has plans to reinvest toward construction of two new refineries, first doubling the capacity of his 700,000-bpd Nigerian refinery, and building one of equal size in Kenya.