Nairobi, Feb. 16 -- When he left Jumia, an e-commerce company that he co-founded, Raphael Afaedor, picked several lessons that would help him grow his new enterprise, Kyosk.

First, how to gain the trust of board members, allowing him to temporarily shut down the company to fix internal theft.

Second, hire a team that is so good, starting from the top leadership, "a team that will pinch your ears when you make a bad decision."

Third, not run Kyosk like most unstable start-ups, a secret that has given the business latitude over many tech start-ups.

"If you have a start-up mentality, you'll be feeling like you are doing some things wrong. We built a very professional entity which gives us mileage over time because when it comes to start-...