Maverick Research has launched an artificial intelligence-powered mapping and retail census platform, Mapela.io, aimed at transforming how businesses understand and navigate informal and emerging markets across Africa.
The company says the platform will significantly improve the speed, accuracy, and cost of collecting market intelligence, particularly in fragmented retail environments where traditional data collection has been slow and resource-intensive.
Speaking on the launch, Managing Principal of Maverick Research, Ato Micah, described the new platform as a major step in the company’s evolution into a technology-driven intelligence provider.
“Mapela.io is a defining milestone in Maverick’s evolution into a technology-enabled intelligence platform,” he said. “We are fundamentally changing how markets are mapped and understood. What once required months of fieldwork can now be delivered in a matter of days — at significantly lower cost and with greater accuracy.”
Mapela.io, which is powered by technology acquired from Lengo AI, uses computer vision and machine learning systems trained on data from more than 1.5 million retail outlets across 80 emerging markets.
The platform is designed to map, classify and geo-locate both formal and informal retail outlets, including kiosks, open market stalls and neighbourhood shops that form the backbone of commerce in many African economies.
Across countries such as Ghana and other emerging markets, a large share of economic activity takes place in the informal sector, where data has traditionally been difficult to capture consistently.
Maverick Research says Mapela.io addresses this gap by providing companies with a more structured and real-time view of retail ecosystems, helping them better understand where and how consumers buy goods.
The company notes that the system can reduce retail census execution time by up to 70 per cent and cut costs by about 40 per cent, while improving visibility in underserved markets.
The platform is expected to be particularly useful for firms in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), telecommunications, and financial services, where distribution networks and market coverage are key to growth.
Maverick Research, which operates across several African countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Senegal, already tracks over 60 FMCG categories and about 15,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) per market each month through its retail audit systems.
With Mapela.io, the company says it is expanding beyond traditional market measurement into broader market intelligence, enabling businesses to identify growth opportunities and improve distribution efficiency.
The platform is currently available to clients, with pilot deployments already underway across selected markets.
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