Black entrepreneur behind Swift Hockey emerged as face of brand despite minimal representation in sport

Zechariah Thomas never wanted to be the face of his business.

The 21-year-old owner of Swift Hockey, an NHL certified hockey stick company based out of Oshawa, Ont., didn't know how the hockey community would react to a young, Black entrepreneur being behind a business looking to produce affordable sticks for those unable to manage the high costs of rival companies.

"It's hard to create a business," Thomas told CBC Sports. "Especially a hockey-related business — at this scale — being a Black entrepreneur selling to people that may not accept Black people in the sport yet." 

The company's small team, consisting of some current and former hockey players, has been with Thomas since its inception in 2022.

Even then, Thomas's ex-hockey mates, who are his friends and business partners, knew he had reservations about revealing to the public Swift Hockey was a Black-owned business.

"He never wanted to be the face of the brand due to, racism in the community," Ryan Ellis, Swift Hockey's chief operating officer, said. "In a primarily white sport, people might not trust a Black entrepreneur to create a new stick and trust that he has the background or much knowledge about hockey."

Thomas played in the Ontario Junior Hockey League during his late teens, including sneaking into two games with the QMJHL's Acadie-Bathurst Titan. He knows hockey as well as anyone, and after securing a segment on Dragons' Den to pitch his product, Thomas had no choice but to emerge as the man behind the brand.

"It was really hard, honestly," Thomas said. "This was a business I never wanted to put my face on; I was really scared that I wouldn't be a business — I wouldn't be able to sell hockey sticks if people knew it was a Black-owned company in the