The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print
operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a
leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
The Tamarind Group began in 1972. Founded by the late Chris Seex who opened Tamarind Mombasa, before Martin Dunford, the current chair joined three years later - after not turning up for a job offer at the Hilton when he graduated. The Carnivore, Kenya’s flagship restaurant, is also Tamarind Group’s most famous since it opened shop in the late ‘70s and early 80s.
Tamarind now includes Tamambo in seven locations, including Johannesburg where Tamarind ventured into in 1993. But the Egyptian market proved a hard nut to crack and the group pulled out after the Arab Spring in 2010.
The Dunfords are synonymous with hospitality (and for which Restaurant magazine voted Carnivore the 2005 Top 50 Best Restaurants in the World) and their sporty sons.
Martin Dunford: Was in Brazil in the 1970s when the idea of the Carnivore formed as he was being served endless nyama choma in a churrascaria (barbeque restaurant). The alumnus of Surrey University (hotel management) then went on to popularise the consumption of game meat (before it was banned in 2004). But the lover of rugby, surfing, squash and swimming still oversees the Tamarind Group’s Sh1.5 billion annual turnover from the restaurants, condos, casinos, entertainment complexes and nightclubs
Geraldine Dunford: Martin’s wife and mother to Robert, Jason and David Dunford. Hospitality genes run in the family, considering grandpa Abraham Block swapped a plot along Kenyatta Avenue with the Norfolk starting off what later morphed into Block Hotels. Geraldine has been the sales and marketing manager for the Tamarind Group since 1995.
Robert Dunford: Alumnus of London School of Economics where he captained the rugby team.
Jason Dunford: Butterfly and freestyle swimmer was the first Kenyan to qualify for the Olympics in swimming in 2008 after a string of gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, All-Africa Games, African Championships (gold medals) and world championships. The Stanford Bsc graduate in human biology (and currently taking an MA in earth systems at Stanford) is Kenya’s most successful swimmer since his talent was sported at Nairobi’s Kenton College.
David Dunford: The sprint freestyle specialist is the African swimming champion and a Commonwealth Games finalist. The student of Stanford University (management science and engineering) became the second swimmer in Kenya’s history to qualify for the Olympics when he took part in the 50m of the 2008 Beijing Olympics - but missed the finals by just 0.12 seconds!
