Your organisation's strategic partner

Where governance meets cyber resilience

Advisory, training, and long-term retainers that turn cyber risk into board-level clarity — for banks, SACCOs, fintechs, and regulators across East Africa.

ISACA Kenya Chapter memberBoard & CISO-level advisoryNDA on every engagement

A new practice, an established practitioner

12+
Years in cyber, risk & IT audit
30+
Practitioners personally trained
4
East African markets worked in

Board briefing · Free

4 Questions Every Board Should Ask
About Cyber Risk

2 min read · delivered by email

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Trusted across East African finance

Confidential engagements with tier-1 & tier-2 banks, deposit-taking SACCOs, microfinance institutions, payment providers, and regulators across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda & Rwanda.

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The Practice

Led by Raphael Gathecha

Savvies Desk is led by Raphael Gathecha — an ISACA-aligned governance, risk and cyber advisor working with boards and executive teams across East African banks, SACCOs and fintechs. Focused on artefacts examiners can see and boards can defend.

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Who we work with

Tier-1 & tier-2 commercial banks
Deposit-taking SACCOs
Microfinance & digital lenders
Payment service providers & fintechs
Insurance & asset managers
Regulators & industry associations

A new practice, an established practitioner

What clients say about the founder's work.

Savvies Desk is a new practice. The notes below come from Raphael Gathecha's individual prior advisory and training engagements — shared with permission, with client identities held in confidence.

12+
Years in cyber, risk & IT audit
30+
Practitioners personally trained
4
East African markets worked in
The tabletop reframed a technical incident as a board decision. We now rehearse ransom posture and out-of-band comms as governance artefacts, not IT drills.
Chair, Board Risk Committee
Regional commercial bank · prior engagement
Practical, evidence-based, and quiet. Exactly what a board room needs from a cyber advisor.
Head of Internal Audit
East African microfinance group · prior engagement

Board briefing · free

4 Questions Every Board Should Ask About Cyber Risk This Quarter

A short, board-ready brief covering the four questions your risk committee should be able to answer before the next examination cycle. Delivered by email, no follow-up call unless you ask for one.

We use your email only to send the briefing and, occasionally, The Desk quarterly. Unsubscribe any time.

Before you send anything

What people ask before the first call.

A few questions we get almost every week from CROs, board risk chairs, and heads of internal audit. If yours isn't here, ask it directly at info@savviesdesk.io.

Is anything I share with you confidential?

Yes. Every engagement — including a first exploratory call — sits under a mutual NDA by default. We publish no client names, no case studies with identifying detail, and no logos without written permission. Confidentiality is the practice, not a marketing option.

How is this different from a pentest firm or a managed SOC?

We don't run penetration tests, deploy tooling, or operate a SOC. We sit with your board, risk committee and executive team on governance, oversight, and regulator-facing evidence. When you need offensive testing or SOC operations, we help you scope the brief and shortlist providers — we do not compete for that work.

Are you vendor-neutral?

Yes. We take no reseller commissions, no referral fees, and hold no exclusive partnerships with security product vendors. Any tool we mention in a briefing is named because it fits your control gap, not because we're paid to name it.

Who is this a fit for — and who isn't it?

A fit: CROs, CIOs, heads of internal audit, and board risk/audit chairs at East African banks, SACCOs, microfinance groups, PSPs, insurers, and asset managers who need cyber risk translated into governance artefacts. Not a fit: teams looking for the cheapest control checklist, or organisations that want a technical vendor rather than a board-facing advisor.

What does a first engagement usually look like?

Most clients start with a single board briefing or a scoped diagnostic — no long-term commitment. If it's useful, we move to a quarterly cadence or a full advisory retainer. If it isn't, you have a briefing document you can still use.

Ready for a board-level conversation about cyber risk?

We accept a small number of advisory retainers each quarter. Tell us about your institution and we'll respond within two working days.

Request a Briefing