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.
A new practice, an established practitioner
Board briefing · Free
4 Questions Every Board Should Ask
About Cyber Risk
2 min read · delivered by email
Get the brief →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.
Our Advisory Programmes
We sit alongside your board and executive team as you build cyber governance. From training and briefings to long-term retainers, we help East African financial institutions govern smarter, respond faster, and stay ahead.
Board & Executive Advisory
Board Cyber Literacy and Regulatory Liaison — briefings, simulations and CBK/BoT/BoU/NBR translation for directors and C-suite leaders.
Explore this pillarCyber Risk & Governance
Quantitative Risk Assessment and Incident Response Retainers — financial-first risk modelling and pre-positioned response for banks, SACCOs and fintechs.
Explore this pillarISACA-Aligned Training
Internal Audit Co-source and Policy & Control Design — practitioner-grade delivery for internal auditors, risk managers and technology leaders.
Explore this pillarThe 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.
Read the full bio →Who we work with
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.
“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.”
“Practical, evidence-based, and quiet. Exactly what a board room needs from a cyber advisor.”
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.
Upcoming Trainings
Live, instructor-led sessions with certificates of participation.
27/08/2026
5pm - 7pm
Could Your Team Handle a Cyber Incident? | Live Incident Response Table-Top Exercise
KES 1,000 · Register →
Webinar24 July 2026
10:00 EAT
Board Cyber Oversight: A 60-Minute Executive Briefing
KES 1,000 · Register →
Certification11 – 15 August 2026
09:00 – 16:30 EAT daily
CISM Exam Preparation Masterclass
KES 3,000 · Register →
From The Desk
Field notes on governance, cyber risk, and regulation across East Africa.

Risk Management • 5 min read
Ransomware Is a Board Decision Now — Here's What Directors Should Rehearse
Three East African banks have quietly disclosed extortion-linked disruptions in the last eighteen months. The boards that handled it well had rehearsed one question in advance.

Governance • 8 min read
CBK, BoT and NBR All Want the Same Thing — And It Isn't Your Policy Library
Examiners have quietly stopped asking to see policies. They're asking to see the artefacts each policy produced last quarter. Eight of them, specifically.

Regulation • 6 min read
The Awkward Gap Between the Data Protection Act and How EAC Clearing Actually Works
Cross-border settlement volumes have doubled since 2022. The residency rules underneath them haven't caught up — and three clearing pathways are quietly exposed.
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