Jason Dunford

After graduation with his MBA in June 2018, Dunford joined the BBC as a bilingual, broadcast journalist working on a new Africa TV business team led by Africa business editor Larry Madowo , where he reported and produced for the shows Smart Money, Biashara Bomba, Money Daily and Mitikasi Leo.

Dunford began rapping in September 2018 after an invitation from Romantico to collaborate on the single Mbaya . In writing his rap for the first verse, he found his stage name Samaki Mkuu, composing the line "Naogelea nitakuwa Samaki Mkuu" The experience led to the formation of the duo Romantico & Samaki Mkuu, the creation of the new sound Gengeton, a merger of Genge and Reggaeton, that includes Swahili, Spanish and English lyrics. The duo's second song, Baila Baila, was a collaboration with the King of Genge, Jua Cali and was released in April 2019. Their third song, Chikicha, which launched in June 2019, was a collaboration with Munju Reh. Their fourth release, Caro, came out in November 2019. Their fifth release, Usiende Mbali, slated to premiere in January 2020, is a collaboration with Sanaipei Tande, Justo Asikoye of Jabali Afrika and Antonio Carmona of Ketama.

In 2016, Jason enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to pursue his MBA, following earlier attainment of a BA in Human Biology and an MS in Earth Systems from Stanford University.

On 28 June 2014, he married Lauren Finzer of Albany, California, daughter of William Finzer and Brigid McCaw.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Dunford reached the final in the 50 and 100 m butterfly. After representing Kenya for just shy of a decade, this was his final international competition.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Dunford competed in the men's 100 m butterfly only, finishing in 12th place. He was also Kenya's flag bearer.

Dunford continued his continental medal hunting at 2010 African Swimming Championships winning two gold medals in butterfly and two freestyle silver medals.

He competed at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi taking the 50 m butterfly gold medal. It was the first swimming medal for Kenya at the Commonwealth Games.

In the presidential honors list for 2010, Jason Dunford was awarded an Order of the Grand Warrior from President Mwai Kibaki for his services rendered to the nation. This awarded elevated him from a Head of State Commendation he had received two years prior.

Dunford placed 4th in the 100m butterfly and 7th in the 50m butterfly at the Shanghai World Championships.

His first major competition in 2009 was the Summer Universiade in Belgrade, where he won the 100 meters butterfly race in a time of 51.29. In the semi-finals he had swum a new Universiade record 50.85, also beating the African record again. At the 50 meters butterfly race he got silver behind Jernej Godec of Slovenia, but was fastest in the semi-finals, his time 23.09 being new Universiade record, still in force after the final, Dunford was also the bronze medalist over 100 metres freestyle in a time of 48.73.

At the 2009 World Championships he finished sixth in the 50 m butterfly and 100 m butterfly races. In the 100 fly semi-finals he set a new African and Commonwealth record of 50.78.

He participated the 2008 FINA Short Course World Championships in Manchester in April 2008 and reached the 100m butterfly final, finishing 8th.

At the 2008 Olympics he competed in two events. In the 100-metre freestyle heats, he finished 24th overall, missing the semi-finals. He did, however, set a new national record of 49.06. In his main event, the 100-metre butterfly, he qualified for the semi-finals, posting a new Olympic record of 51.14, and simultaneously bettering his own African record. The previous Olympic record (51.25) was set by Michael Phelps at the 2004 Olympics. Dunford's Olympic record did not last long; just a few minutes later Milorad Čavić of Serbia recorded 50.76, followed by two other swimmers (including Phelps) who beat Dunford's time. He reached the final and finished fifth by swimming 51.47.

In December 2008 at the African Swimming Championships in Johannesburg he won three gold and two silver medals.

Dunford participated in several races at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. His best result was reaching a 100 m butterfly final, where he finished eighth. On his way to final, he clocked 51.85, a new African record to beat Commonwealth Games Champion, Ryan Pini of Papua New Guinea in a swim-off for the 8th spot in the final. He also became the first Kenyan swimmer to qualify for the Olympics, gaining qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China in the 100m butterfly as well as the 100m freestyle. On earlier occasions, some Kenyan swimmers have participated in the Olympics, but only on the IOC swimming wild card.

At the 2007 All-Africa Games in Algiers Jason Dunford won three gold medals (50m, 100m and 200m butterfly), two silver (50m freestyle, 100m backstroke) and three bronze (50m backstroke, 100m and 200 m freestyle). For his efforts at these games and the Melbourne World Championships, Dunford was awarded the Safaricom Kenyan Sportsman of the Year Award for 2007.

(25 m)|2006 Short Course World Championships]] in Shanghai he reached semi-finals in two events: 100 metres freestyle and 100 metres butterfly. He missed the 2006 Commonwealth Games due to a conflict with preparations for his first NCAA Championships.

The 2006 African Swimming Championships in Dakar, Senegal, marked a breakthrough moment for him as he became the first Kenyan ever to win a continental swimming medal with gold in the 100m butterfly on the first day of competition. He went on to finish the competition with two gold medals (100m butterfly and 50m backstroke), three silvers (50m butterfly, 100m and 200m freestyle) and one bronze (50m freestyle). He also broke a number of national records. His younger brother David Dunford also performed well, winning two golds and one silver (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and 50m backstroke).

His success in 2006 earned him second place in the Kenyan Sportsman of the Year award, behind Alex Kipchirchir, one of Kenya's many world-class runners. His brother David Dunford was selected as the Most Promising Sportsman at the same awards.

He has two brothers, Robert and David. His older brother, Robert, is a graduate of the London School of Economics and works for Standard Bank in Johannesburg. He is part of the ultra-swim group MadSwimmer that completes ultra long-distance, open-water swims around the world to raise money for local charities. His younger brother, David, was also an international swimmer and represented Kenya from 2005 to 2012.

While at Marlborough College he met coach Peter O'Sullivan, himself a former Great Britain International Swimmer in the 400 m Individual medley. O'Sullivan had swum at the University of Georgia, and it was he who encouraged Jason to look to college in the US to develop his swimming career. In 2005, after finishing his A-Levels, Dunford moved to Stanford University in the United States where he earned a swimming scholarship. In 2009, he graduated with a BA in Human biology, in 2012, he completed his MS in Earth Systems, and in 2016 he returned to the same campus, graduating with his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in June 2018.

Dunford competed in various races at the 2004 Short Course World Championships in Indianapolis, and 2005 World Championships in Montreal, but the young swimmer failed to advance past the heats.

Jason Dunford started swimming competitively in 1991, at the age of five and it was while at Kenton College, a primary school in Nairobi, under coach Andrew Nderu, that he began to establish himself as a top swimmer in age group for the region. At 13, the talented swimmer moved to study on a scholarship at Marlborough College in the United Kingdom.

Jason Edward Dunford, OGW (born 28 November 1986), also known as Samaki Mkuu, is a Kenyan Olympic swimmer, media personality, rapper and entrepreneur. During his swimming career he was predominantly a butterfly and freestyle sprinter winning gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, Universiade, All-Africa Games and African Championships, and reaching finals at the Olympics, World Championships and Short Course World Championships. He also held African, Universiade and Olympic records. He has worked as a broadcast journalist for the BBC, is a co-founder and adviser to software company, Safi Analytics and currently serves as the CEO of Baila Entertainment whilst performing as Samaki Mkuu, one half of the rap duo Romantico & Samaki Mkuu.