CEO & Founder
Rufus Mbugua
Engineering lead. Data enthusiast. Building software that works in African markets.
Nairobi, Kenya
At a glance
- Role
- CEO & Founder
- Based
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Organisations
- 10
Background
Rufus is a Nairobi-based software engineer and the founder of SavannaStack Ltd. He leads product and engineering for KifaruOS, Juniper POS, and Swara — systems built for intermittent connectivity, mobile money, and teams that cannot pause when the network drops.
He currently leads engineering at Focused.com on the Profit Acceleration Software ecosystem, and has spent years with Andela shipping for companies across beauty, pet care, developer tools, and consumer brands. That includes Partner Engineer work at GitHub (internal tools, data insights, and Secret Scanning), data pipelines at Kinship, e-commerce leadership at True Botanicals, and chatbot platforms at Fineazy and Arifu.
Earlier in his career he designed healthcare software at the HP–Strathmore Research Lab with the Ministry of Health, CHAI Kenya, MEDS, and NQCL. He holds an MBA from Strathmore Business School, a BBIT from Strathmore University, and additional training in data science (Great Learning · MIT) and information security (CISA, CISM).
The through-line is the same: architecture that lasts, documentation the next engineer can use, and software operators will run. Open the roles below for what each one involved. Products and a live case study are in Selected work.
Selected work
KifaruOS
Operations ERP — 50+ modules across finance, inventory, operations, and health. A product we own and operate.
Juniper POS
Offline-aware checkout with M-Pesa, registers, and a customer display. The till product for Kenyan retail.
Tikketi Global Travel
Live travel platform — bookings, brand, and the desk on one stack.
GitHub
Public profile and the repos behind the work. Partner Engineer on internal tools, data insights, and Secret Scanning.
Secret Scanning
GitHub’s public documentation for the security product Rufus collaborated on as Partner Engineer.
Companies worked with
SavannaStack — CEO & Founder Show
2025 — Present
Products and custom systems from Nairobi — KifaruOS, Juniper POS, Swara, and client platforms such as Tikketi.
Visit →Focused.com — Software Engineering Lead Show
2023 — Present
Leads engineering on the Profit Acceleration Software ecosystem — architecture, integrations, payment access, and delivery discipline.
Visit →Andela — Senior Software Engineer Show
2018 — Present
Staffed and led work across beauty, pet care, developer tools, and consumer brands — including GitHub, True Botanicals, BestSelf, and Kinship.
Visit →GitHub — Partner Engineer Show
2020 — 2023
Business Development engineering — internal tools (GitHub Pages, JavaScript, Go), data insights, and collaboration on Secret Scanning.
Visit →Kinship — Software Engineer Show
2023 — 2024
Data pipelines and integrations between internal systems and shelter software, plus a high-performing web application for pet adoption.
Visit →Fineazy — Senior Software Engineer Show
2021 — 2022
Architecture documentation, chatbot platform, release automation, and engineering rituals for a financial-capability product.
Visit →True Botanicals — Technical Lead Show
2018 — 2020
Led e-commerce theme and storefront engineering for a clean-skincare brand — conversion, performance, and a team that could ship.
Visit →BestSelf Co. — Full Stack Engineer Show
2019
Full-stack work on digital products for a personal-growth company.
Arifu — Senior Software Engineer Show
HP · Strathmore Research Lab — eHealth Analyst & Solution Architect Show
2012 — 2016
Healthcare software with the Ministry of Health, CHAI Kenya, MEDS, and NQCL — data separation and compliance as product requirements.
Education
Strathmore Business School
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
2018 — 2021
Great Learning · MIT
Data Science and Machine Learning Program
2022
Strathmore University
BBIT · CISA · CISM
2009 — 2014