Stepping Out of the Cage of Convention
- Oluseyi Ekanem
- Jun 1
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 2
In Nigeria, choosing to build something new — something the market hasn’t quite figured out yet — often feels like walking alone through uncharted territory.
When I started PAITAN , a creative-tech company focused on animation, storytelling, and innovation, I wasn’t just chasing a dream — I was stepping outside the cage. The cage of convention. The cage of playing small. The cage of doing only what people expect of you.
Entrepreneurship, especially in unfamiliar industries like animation or VFX, is often met with silence, skepticism, or subtle mockery. People don’t always mean harm. But they don’t always understand.
They ask: “Who else is doing this here?”
Or:
“How will you make money?”
But they don’t realize that what looks like “cartoons” is actually a gateway into the very technologies shaping the future of global industry — and potentially Nigeria’s.
At PAITAN, we’re working with the same tools and standards being adopted by tech giants around the world. Tools like OpenUSD — the universal scene description framework developed by Pixar, now used by NVIDIA, Apple, Adobe, and others — which allows seamless integration of 3D assets across AI, robotics, AR/VR, and simulation environments.
This isn’t just about making pretty pictures. We’re mastering procedural 3D design, real-time rendering, physics simulation, and generative workflows — technologies that already power:
Robotics & AI training environments
Virtual prototyping for manufacturing and architecture
Digital twins for oil & gas, logistics, and urban planning
Autonomous vehicle simulation and LiDAR mapping
Augmented reality and immersive education
Our work is situated at the crossroads of storytelling, data, and machine learning — where creative expression meets engineering precision.
The same visual pipeline that brings a short film to life can be repurposed to model traffic flow in smart cities, simulate fluid dynamics in oil fields, or train AI to navigate complex 3D environments.
This isn’t just about making "cartoons", this is about laying the foundation for Nigeria to participate — and lead — in the AI economy.
The West is building the future with 3D pipelines, synthetic data, and real-time engines. Why shouldn’t we?
On this journey, not every one will understand my vision and support me. In those tough moments I remind myself that
“Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.”– Alejandro Jodorowsky
“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”– Friedrich Nietzsche
These tools I’m mastering aren’t just for telling stories. They’re for reshaping industries. They’re for creating jobs. They’re for charting a future where Nigeria is not just a consumer of technology — but a leader in it.
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