Unicard’s CEO Sean Dickinson has been named One to Watch in The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders 2023. Created by trusted investment partner LDC - part of Lloyds Banking Group, and supported by The Times, The LDC Top 50 champions the business leaders who are pushing for growth and building successful medium-sized businesses. Being featured in The LDC Top 50 recognises the positive changes and major advances Unicard have taken in the four years since Sean joined as CEO. These include:
- Leading the successful acquisition of smart transport ticketing and payment solutions provider Ecebs from Visa. The combined entity supports commercial and concessionary fare schemes for national, regional and local authorities throughout the UK and abroad
- The M&A enabled Unicard to add contactless EMV to its extensive solutions portfolio, now comprised of an industry leading Smart Ticketing platform including ITSO, ABT (Account Based Ticketing), MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service), and rail ticketing solutions
- Selection by Transport Scotland Unicard to deliver a mobile app, AMS-HOPS, and Part 11 integration to manage the pioneering Scottish Concessionary Travel Scheme, including free travel for all under-22s in Scotland
- Being instrumental in supporting the development of the UK’s Future Transport Zones (FTZ) as a key delivery partner for Solent Transport’s Breeze Mobility-as-a-Service app and the Transport for West Midlands FTZ project
- Enabling Transport for Wales to become the first UK train operator outside of London to allow contactless EMV card payments through the deployment of our Ticketing Hub platform
- Serving the evolving transport ticketing needs of over 80 local and regional authorities, industry bodies and commercial transport operators
- Moving into the rail sector when Rail Delivery Group selected us to deliver an industry-first, cloud-based, multi-tenanted HOPS to support 17 Train Operating Companies
- Growing revenues by 57% between 2020 and 2023
- Supporting the Government’s Net Zero initiative through the development of sustainable transport solutions and implementing Unicard’s own carbon reduction plan
- The award of highly competitive funding by Innovate UK to develop the Smart Ticketing Broker – a pioneering solution enabling seamless travel and payments, at the best price, for an estimated 1.5 million UK bus passengers every day
- Sustainably growing the number of employees at Unicard in both our Dorset headquarters and Bulgarian R&D centre, and more recently, through the addition of our development and support site in East Kilbride, including 19% of roles filled by women
- Ensuring over 4m smart cardholders can travel easily, reliably and securely every year
- Implementing a Product-led strategy throughout the business to deliver better outcomes for our customers
We started The LDC Top 50 six years ago to champion the remarkable success stories of medium-sized businesses, the unsung heroes of the British economy. Since then, we’ve received more than 3,000 nominations and celebrated more than 500 business leaders through the programme, surpassing all our expectations. The stories behind this year’s Ones to Watch really captured our attention and I’d like to congratulate them on their achievements so far. We’ve no doubt that this is only the beginning for each and every one of them!
You can find out more information on this year’s LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders programme below.