Africa’s ongoing electricity access gap has long hindered the continent’s development goals. Over the past decade, several high-profile electrification efforts have emerged, including the US-led Power Africa, the World Bank’s Scaling Solar, the United Nations’ Sustainable Energy for All, and the African Development Bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa. Each aimed for transformative progress but collectively fell short of achieving universal access. This paper examines why these well-intentioned programs underperformed and how a new approach is emerging. It highlights Mission 300, an ambitious, Africa-led initiative to connect 300 million people by 2030, as a key turning point in energy policy. The analysis concludes that sustainable electrification in Africa requires more than just equipment; it needs fundamental changes in how projects are financed and managed. The paper ends with implications for African leadership in taking ownership of the electrification effort and for the continent’s broader structural change.