Zeynep Demirbilek is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Service Club, a Barcelona-based platform that trains and places delivery drivers and riders. Although the business was built in Spain, its focus on the gig economy, workforce quality and tech-led scaling offers useful lessons for women in business across the UK.

First, tell us about the business

Service Club is a members’ club and workforce platform for delivery personnel. It brings together two groups that traditionally struggle to connect: couriers who need reliable work, and delivery apps and logistics companies that need vetted, job-ready staff.

The platform’s model combines edtech and HR tech. The Service Club Academy offers short, gamified microlearning modules that teach practical skills, safety awareness and customer service. Once riders complete the training, they can apply for delivery jobs in their area through the platform’s job board. For employers, Service Club acts as a filtering, recruitment and onboarding tool that reduces the time and cost of hiring high-churn gig workers.

Its customers fall into two camps: delivery apps and logistics operators looking for quality candidates, and delivery drivers and riders looking for steady income and clearer career progression.

Why did you start your business?

I have always been a problem solver, and the delivery sector presented two linked problems that no one seemed to be addressing together.

For delivery apps and courier firms, the cost of acquiring quality leads is high and staff turnover is relentless. Recruitment funnels are expensive, onboarding is slow, and many new hires drop out before they complete their first delivery. For drivers and riders, work can be patchy, pay unpredictable and guidance scarce. The result is a market with strong demand for couriers but poor retention on both sides.

• Delivery apps and logistics firms: high lead-generation costs, long onboarding and high staff rotation.
• Delivery drivers and riders: inconsistent jobs, income volatility and limited support.

The UK faces similar pressures. Research by the TUC suggests that around 4.4 million people now work in the UK gig economy, with courier roles among the fastest-growing categories. That creates a clear opportunity for founders who can improve working conditions while helping businesses hire more efficiently. Service Club was built to bridge that gap by educating riders first and then matching them with vacancies.

What are the high points?

Since launching in 2018, Service Club has moved from a shared co-working space to its own headquarters and built a diverse team spanning technology, operations and customer success. The platform has registered tens of thousands of jobseekers and delivered thousands of microlearning modules, with contracts signed across Europe to support further scaling.

Perhaps the most important milestone, however, is cultural. The company has created a team that can execute its dual mission: commercial growth and genuine rider support. For women founders watching from the UK, the lesson is that traction is not only about user numbers; it is also about building an organisation capable of repeating its success.

What were the toughest challenges and how did you get over them?

The hardest part of any start-up is building a product that genuinely adds value. The antidote is to stay close to customers, ask for feedback constantly and act on it quickly. We keep our request queue short so users do not wait too long for improvements, and we treat every piece of feedback as part of the product roadmap.

Cash flow, hiring and cross-border regulation have also tested the business. Like many UK founders expanding into Europe, navigating different labour laws and employment statuses has required careful legal advice and local partnerships. The experience underlines a point that applies on both sides of the Channel: international growth is easier when compliance is baked in from the start.

Marketing – tell us about a marketing tactic that works really well for your business. What are your main sales channels?

Service Club’s marketing has been deliberately diverse. LinkedIn, industry forums, targeted email campaigns and social media have all played a part. The tactic that consistently delivers, though, is building strong relationships with early customers and turning them into advocates.

More recently, the team has invested in content marketing to drive organic traffic. Because the academy covers real questions that drivers and fleet managers ask, the business can publish genuinely useful guidance rather than generic promotional material. This approach builds trust with both sides of the marketplace and keeps readers interested in delivery careers.

The academy itself is the main differentiator. While most gig-economy job boards simply list vacancies, Service Club trains riders first, making them a safer bet for employers. In B2B sales, that unique proposition usually leads to a pilot contract for a set number of couriers, which then expands if the trial succeeds.

Technology – how does technology fit into the business?

Technology is at the core of Service Club. The company took a tech-first approach from day one, using its own platform to deliver microlearning, match workers with jobs, communicate with users, run marketing campaigns and collect feedback.

The app is designed to be scalable. As the business enters new cities or countries, the same infrastructure can onboard new learners and employers without rebuilding the underlying systems. Gamification keeps learners engaged, while data from the academy helps employers identify the most reliable candidates.

For UK women founders, the broader takeaway is that technology is most powerful when it solves a specific operational pain point. In Service Club’s case, that pain point is workforce quality in a high-churn industry. A clear problem, a measurable outcome and a repeatable tech solution form the foundation for investor conversations and customer pitches.

Zeynep Demirbilek’s experience shows that a start-up can grow internationally while staying rooted in customer feedback, workforce development and disciplined technology choices. For women founders in the UK, the Service Club story is a reminder that some of the best opportunities lie in improving the day-to-day experience of overlooked workers.