A billionaire entrepreneur who made his name by reinventing parcel delivery, Brzoska is now spearheading a bold attempt to cut government red tape at the request of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The campaign, once dismissed as a political stunt ahead of Poland’s presidential elections, is fast becoming a serious reform effort — and Brzoska, a man used to solving real-world inefficiencies, is putting his business instincts to work.
“This Polish model — which comes with ideas from outside the system, doesn’t require special committees and can be implemented quickly — may turn out to be very interesting for others as well,” Brzoska told Bloomberg News.
From parcel lockers to policy
Brzoska made his fortune by solving one of online shopping’s biggest headaches — waiting for deliveries. His company, InPost SA, now worth $7.5 billion, built a network of 24/7 self-service parcel lockers across Poland and much of Europe. Customers can pick up and send parcels when it suits them — no more waiting at home for couriers.
His reputation as an innovator led Tusk to ask him in February to lead a deregulation effort modelled in part on the US’s recent appointment of Elon Musk to overhaul its own bloated bureaucracy. But unlike Musk’s ruthless cost-cutting and mass firings, Brzoska has taken a more collaborative path.
Early on, he ruled out any reforms that would harm workers.
A new kind of deregulation
Brzoska’s taskforce, made up of academics, former officials, and business leaders, has already drafted 230 proposals for change. They’re working across 30 thematic areas — from courts and taxes to energy and defence — with legislation either being pushed through parliament or changed by decree for smaller reforms.“Grassroots deregulation has generated tremendous energy,” Brzoska said.
He also launched a public-facing website — its name roughly translates to We’re Checking — where citizens can propose and vote on rule changes. It’s a rare attempt to crowdsource public policy in real time.
Former media and banking executive Wojciech Kostrzewa, who is on Brzoska’s team, highlighted three big goals: streamlining the justice system, simplifying tax rules, and making Poland’s transition away from coal more business-friendly.
“This project has opened a rare window of opportunity,” Kostrzewa said. “We can’t waste this enthusiasm, especially as this could shape our economy for years to come.”
Strategic and economic stakes
Poland’s deregulation drive is not just about efficiency. It’s about resilience, too.
With Russia’s war raging just over the border in Ukraine, some of the proposals are designed to increase private sector participation in defence production, capitalising on Poland’s growing military budget as a NATO member.
Poland already ranks relatively well on the World Bank’s red-tape index — better than most of its European peers — but entrepreneurs have long felt ignored by national policy. That began to shift when Tusk tapped Brzoska, just as Washington handed Musk a similar portfolio.
Tusk has also met recently with tech giants like Microsoft and Alphabet, while pushing forward legislation to ease healthcare costs for the self-employed and inject more economic nationalism into public contracts.
Election pressure and political reality
All this reform is unfolding in a charged political moment. Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, a Tusk ally, is leading the polls ahead of the 18 May presidential vote. But he’s unlikely to win outright, meaning a runoff looms.
Meanwhile, conservative rivals are courting business voters with promises of deregulation and tax cuts — raising the stakes for Brzoska’s mission.
Still, some remain cautious. “I wish Brzoska all the best but given the different interests of the coalition partners and the complexity of regulations, I don’t expect fast implementation,” said Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a political scientist at the University of Warsaw.
Brzoska sees it differently. Done right, he believes deregulation could change how government sees private enterprise — and vice versa. “It may also be a kind of an eye opener for the public sector as it’s difficult to deregulate yourself,” he said.
InPost’s UK ambitions
While Brzoska’s influence grows in Warsaw, he’s also rewriting the rules of parcel delivery in Britain.
In a strategic play to expand his company’s footprint, InPost recently acquired UK delivery firm Yodel for £106 million. The deal, structured as a debt-for-equity swap, gives InPost control of 95.5% of Yodel’s parent company, Judge Logistics Ltd. PayPoint, a British payment services firm, retains the remaining 4.5%.
“This deal fast-tracks five years of organic expansion in the UK, showing our long-term commitment to this market,” Brzoska said.
With Yodel and the earlier acquisition of Menzies Distribution, InPost is now poised to become the UK’s third-largest independent parcel delivery service — trailing only Royal Mail and Evri, and excluding Amazon, which handles its own logistics.
The merger is expected to enable more than 300 million parcel deliveries annually, serving over 700 e-commerce retailers. Brzoska’s plan is to fuse InPost’s out-of-home locker network with Yodel’s door-to-door delivery service, creating a seamless, unified platform.
InPost now expects 30% of its global revenue to come from the UK. But Brzoska’s ambitions aren’t just commercial. His dual push — deregulating Poland while dominating UK logistics — reflects a rare fusion of entrepreneurial grit and civic reform.
It’s no longer just about faster deliveries. It’s about building systems that actually work — in government, in business, and for people.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
