Geospatial strategy · Urban spatial analytics

Emmanuel
Sampson.

I sell, build and now model the systems that tell us where things are, and why location decides what happens next.

Move your cursor over the contours to take a reading.
Portrait of Emmanuel Sampson in a navy blazer, arms crossed, smiling
Station: E. Sampson
01 · Scale

Eleven years putting coordinates to work.

Surveying instruments, GNSS reference networks and mapping software for governments, utilities, mines and builders across African markets, sold as hardware plus software subscriptions.

$85M
won in competitive bids at Trimble
$150M
donor-funded pipeline originated through market sizing
$10.2M
regional revenue led at Leica Geosystems
7
journal articles on AI, digital transformation and financial inclusion
02 · Journey

Eight stations, one traverse.

Each point is plotted at its real latitude and longitude. Select a station to read its entry.

03 · Work

What I'm mapping.

Current analytics work at Penn alongside the field projects that shaped how I think about infrastructure and place.

Philadelphia · PythonIn progress

Where should the next Indego station go?

A siting model for Philadelphia's bike-share network that weighs demand, SEPTA ridership and the city's bike-lane network to rank candidate locations.

GeoPandasJupyterOpenDataPhillySEPTA
Philadelphia · AIIn progress

Predicting urban heat block by block

Machine learning on land cover, built form and surface temperature to find the neighborhoods that heat up first and where cooling investment pays back most.

Remote sensingPythonML
Retail geography · RResearch

Store-location incursion and trade areas

How a new store pulls customers from an existing trade area, measured with spatial analysis and catchment modelling.

Trade-area analysisRArcGIS Pro
Emerging markets · TrimbleDelivered

Reference station networks for land administration

Secured site permits and delivered continuously operating reference station (CORS) networks that give surveyors centimetre-level positioning for land titling.

GNSSCORSPublic sector
04 · Toolbox

Instruments in the kit.

Analysis

  • R (spatial prediction)
  • Python, GeoPandas, Jupyter
  • SQL and Excel
  • ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, GeoDa

Geospatial tech

  • GNSS and CORS networks
  • Survey and mapping hardware
  • Subscription software licensing
  • Land administration systems

Commercial

  • Tender and bid strategy
  • Market sizing (TAM / PAM)
  • Go-to-market planning
  • PPP structuring
  • P&L and team leadership
05 · Record

Every station, on the record.

2025–2026

Geospatial Regional Manager, East & Central Africa

Leica Geosystems (Hexagon)

Owned a $10.2M regional P&L and a $2.2M operating budget with a 23-person team, delivering 42% year-over-year revenue growth. Won $1.9M in competitive tenders across Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda after earlier losses, and tripled East Africa partner revenue.

P&L
2024–2025

Freelance Consultant

Accra · Vela Sustainability Technologies

Built the go-to-market plan and market sizing across 18 West and Central African countries, approaching 100+ prospects and building a $1.1M pipeline.

GTM
2015–2023

Senior Business Development Manager

Trimble · BDM 2015–2019, Senior BDM 2020–2023

Won $85M in competitive bids, averaging $10.6M a year, and originated a $150M donor-funded pipeline. Lost a $1.5M World Bank tender in Tanzania in 2017, then won $3M with the same client in 2023. Designed a public-private partnership proposal with government and secured land and site permits for national CORS networks.

Bids
2021–2022

Strategic Account Manager, West & Central Africa

De La Rue

Managed strategic accounts including a $75M public-sector project and $25M in annual revenue.

Accounts
2013–2014

Consulting project, LSE

CARE International, London

Co-led value-chain research for Mondelēz's $400M Cocoa Life programme in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.

Research
Early career

Malaria-control programme

AngloGold Ashanti · Global Fund, Obuasi

Worked on the public-health programme in my hometown, my first lesson in how place shapes outcomes.

Health

Perplexity AI Business Fellow, 2025

Expected 2027

MUSA, Urban Spatial Analytics

University of Pennsylvania · Stuart Weitzman Scholar

2019

MBA, Distinction

Lancaster University Management School

2015

MSc Development Management

London School of Economics · Ambassador E. O. Kolade Scholar

2009

BSc Business Administration

KNUST · First Class Honours

06 · Play

Can you place the point?

A five-round coordinate check, in honour of the Weitzman School's GeoGuessr night. Read the fix, pick the city.

Round 1 of 5
—
Pick a city.Score 0 / 5  
07 · Contact

Let's talk location.

Commercial and technology strategy, business development, or a consulting engagement. Send a note.

sampsone@upenn.edu LinkedIn ↗ CV ↓