TechCabal, Zikoko’s sister publication, has received an Appreciation and Legacy Award from Eko Hotels & Suites. The honour was presented at “Eko Hotels @ 50: Celebrating 50 Years of a Legacy of Excellence,” marking the hospitality institution’s golden jubilee.
It happened at a glamorous gala on Friday, October 2, 2026, with comedian Bovi and actor Osas Ighodaro steering the evening. Against a black-and-gold backdrop befitting a golden jubilee, Eko Hotels celebrated five decades of hospitality and the people and organisations who have shared in its journey.
For a place that has spent 50 years hosting other people’s big moments, it was a well-earned turn in the spotlight. And our family had the pleasure of leaving with a gold-trimmed souvenir.
Yes, our parent company went to a birthday celebration and came home with an award. We approve of this arrangement. But to understand why the recognition means something to us, we have to talk about the celebrant.
In Lagos, some addresses require a landmark, a voice note and a final phone call to someone standing outside. Eko Hotels has the advantage of being the landmark. Even if you have never checked into a room, there is a fair chance it has entered your life through a bus stop call, the cause of road traffic, an invitation, a concert ticket, a wedding photograph or an awards-show red carpet you had strong opinions about.
Eko Hotels opened in 1977 on Victoria Island, Lagos, as the Èkó Holiday Inn, one of four major venues (including the entire Festac Town and the National Theatre) that exist today because of FESTAC ’77. Today, the “inn” has over 820 to 825 rooms across four distinct properties.
For five decades, it has provided a setting for the things Nigerians like to gather for. Essentially, love, music, business, achievement and the opportunity to dress as though someone might be presenting them with a lifetime achievement award. Eko Hotels has become part of how Lagos celebrates itself.
That is a considerable legacy in a city with an enthusiastic appetite for the next big thing.
Keeping a place in people’s lives for 50 years requires successive generations to find their own reasons to return. The wedding guests become wedding hosts, new performers take the stage, new businesses arrive with ideas that would have been difficult to explain to the people attending conferences there decades earlier. Somewhere along the way, our own family became part of that story.
Through Moonshot by TechCabal, TechCabal has brought founders, investors, policymakers, creatives and technology professionals together at the Eko Convention Centre to discuss what Africa is building and what it will take to move it forward. It is a gathering built around the ambitious proposition that the people working on the continent’s future should have opportunities to meet, question one another, exchange ideas and make useful connections.
Naturally, this also involves lanyards. Quite a lot of lanyards.
For Zikoko readers, the connection might seem less obvious at first. Your favourite Love Life instalment and a room full of startup founders do not necessarily look like close relatives. But they belong to the same curious family. At Zikoko, we are interested in how Nigerians live and everyday absurdities that make a life. At TechCabal, the focus turns to the technology and businesses changing the conditions in which those lives unfold.
Both require paying attention to people and depend on audiences who keep showing up because they expect to find something worth their time.
That makes this recognition a welcome moment for the people doing the work across pubs. From the journalists and editors (us!) to the creative and commercial teams, and the people organising the gatherings that bring our communities into the same room.
It also gives us an excuse to thank you.
Every story you read, share, argue with or send to a friend with “this is literally you” helps this work travel. You give our stories an audience and, very often, a second life in the group chat. We know better than to underestimate that institution.
As Eko Hotels celebrates its golden jubilee, we are pleased to have a place in this chapter of its story. We congratulate the team on five decades of welcoming people to Lagos and giving the city somewhere to gather. And we thank them for the Appreciation and Legacy Award presented to our sis, TechCabal.
Fifty years is a lot of history to host. Being invited into the anniversary album? We’ll happily take that.
TechCabal is bringing 7,000 founders, investors, operators, creators, and talent from across Africa and beyond to Moonshot 2026 at the National Theatre in Lagos on October 28 & 29.
This is the best opportunity to join the convergence of Africa’s best builders.
If you are seeking investors, enterprise partners, cofounders, or your next employer, while hearing directly from some of the continent’s boldest builders. Moonshot is the perfect place to be.
