Shane McCarthy, Canada’s recently crowned national boxing champ, is also making a name for himself outside the ring. The 24-year-old Western engineering grad has emerged as a promising entrepreneur through several initiatives at the Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship Powered by Ivey, culminating in the Entrepreneurial Summer Internship (ESI).
“My goal is to have my company, Drago Boxing, fully launched and generating revenue from its first product by the last day of this internship, July 30. I’m right on track to do that,” he said.
Western engineering grad Shane McCarthy is building a business around his passion for boxing. (Colleen MacDonald/Western News)
The route from intriguing idea to viable business model can be packed with pitfalls ranging from limited resources to steep learning curves. McCarthy also encountered quality control issues in his first business venture in 2024 with his best friend Luke Richardson. After initially selling boxing gear sourced offshore, they decided that creating a product at home would ensure its reliability and consistency.
“I knew boxing was my passion, but I also knew there’s not much money in it unless you’re a top professional, so I decided to build a business around it,” he said.
For student-led startups like McCarthy’s, Morrissette smooths their entrepreneurial journey with funding, mentorship, training and in-house production. In 2024, McCarthy applied for one of its funding opportunities, and was accepted in the Startup Challenge, an incubator that takes aspiring entrepreneurs from idea to pitch through a five-week program.
Boxer entrepreneur turns idea into invention
McCarthy’s first step was identifying a real problem. He found it in a daily issue dealing with his hand wraps, the essential protective gear used by boxers and MMA fighters to protect their hands from injuries to the small bones, tendons and ligaments.
“The wraps end up in a tangled, sweaty heap after they’re removed and are difficult to handle. Rolling them is a time-consuming hassle and hanging them to air dry can be difficult because their length prevents them from lying flat,” McCarthy explained.
The advisors at Morrissette Entrepreneurship encouraged him to validate that problem, so he visited several area gyms, including Boomerz Boxing Club in London, Ont. where he trains, to ask fighters for their experience. He wasn’t alone in either the inconvenience of wrap management, or difficulty in finding an effective solution.
The Drago Boxing Dual Wrap Roller was 3D printed at Morrissette Entrepreneurship. (Colleen MacDonald/Western News)
“The other products I tested only rolled one wrap at a time, so I built my own dual roller prototype using metal brackets, tape and a coat hanger as a crank. It looked rough but it worked.”
The device really took shape when his advisors helped him create a CAD model and then a 3D printed version in one of the maker spaces in the Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship. McCarthy produced a sturdy Dual Wrap Roller that quickly rolls two wraps at once and can be mounted over a door to hang wraps to dry.
Prototype leads to business built around boxing
McCarthy won the Startup Challenge with his prototype, along with $1,500, setting off a whirlwind succession of triumphs. Just a week later, he won all three of his bouts in the Elite Cruiserweight division to clinch a Canadian National Boxing Championship.
Western engineering grad Shane McCarthy took second place in the 2025 Ivey Business Plan Competition. (Sunday Ajak/Morrissette Entrepreneurship)
Amid the intensity of exams in December, and buoyed by his Startup Challenge experience, he poured more energy into refining his CAD model and 3D-printed updates, earning an invitation to the Ivey Business Plan Competition in January – on short notice.
“I had to submit a 20-page business plan and a 10-minute pitch in just four days – projects the other students had been working on for months. I barely slept that week but ended up placing second.”
McCarthy entered a few more mini-pitch competitions hosted by Morrissette Entrepreneurship and was accepted into the Entrepreneurial Student Internship in April.
“I’m extremely grateful,” McCarthy said. “It gave me the time and funding to keep working on the business after graduation.”
Entrepreneurship programs open to both Western students and alumni
The ESI program is primarily open to current Western students and includes funding, mentorship, training and access to prototyping tools to help students advance their business ideas. Western alumni – regardless of when they graduated – can also access a similar program through the Western Accelerator offered each fall and winter semester.
Western students from the 2025 Entrepreneurial Summer Internship accessed training, funding, mentorship and prototyping tools to develop their business ideas. (Sunday Ajak/Morrissette Entrepreneurship)
The three-month ESI program has allowed McCarthy to take his product from prototype to market. He credits the support from Morrissette advisors and mentors for building his confidence and business acumen.
“Matt Travis, who ran the Startup Challenge, pushed me to keep meeting with people and gather real feedback. That led to small but important changes. Almost everything I’ve updated in the design came from user feedback.”
The production of McCarthy’s Dual Wrap Roller was refined further with valuable manufacturing mentorship from Domenic Cecol, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Mentors play an important role, said Kiran Bains, manager of the Western Accelerator Program.
Shane McCarthy (centre) delivers a live demo of his prototype wrap roller with staff from Morrissette Entrepreneurship. John McDonald (left) uses a competitor’s product and Matthew Travis, (right) rolls two wraps with McCarthy’s device faster than either of them can roll one. (Brandon McIntosh/Ivey Business School)
“After graduating from either the ESI or the Accelerator Program, most of our entrepreneurs tell us mentorship helped them significantly,” she said. “These programs give our students access to both Ivey and Western alumni who are business owners or experts in their fields. These mentors offer free mentorship to students in the various Morrissette programs. That network is an exceptional resource.”
“I’ve seen firsthand the transformative impact of Morrissette’s programs and I wanted to be a part of that. There are a lot of great minds with great ideas who just need guidance to get to the next step.” – Jaymie Crook, mentor at Morrissette Entrepreneurship
Jaymie Crook, EMBA’17, another Entrepreneur-in-Residence who owns two London, Ont. businesses has remained actively involved with Ivey since returning later in life to complete his MBA.
Crook offered McCarthy direction that helped him think through his challenges and opportunities and develop plans for scaling up his business in the future.
“Mentors aren’t there to make decisions for developing entrepreneurs; we’re there to bounce ideas off, get them asking the right questions and help them expand their network so they can make better-informed decisions,” he said.
Mentorship opens doors for young entrepreneurs
With 30 years of business experience and an established network of contacts, Crook was able to connect McCarthy with a website developer well-versed in organic search, along with engineers who could provide design and production advice for his product. He’s proud to play a role in supporting early-stage entrepreneurs.
Shane McCarthy 3D printed his Dual Wrap Wrap Roller in this maker space in Western’s Ronald D. Schmeichel Building at Morrissette Entrepreneurship. (Colleen MacDonald/Western News)
“Morissette provides a support system of like-minded people who can help you get a business off the ground,” Crook said. “Then it brings in the tools and the people who can help you design, manufacture and market your product. All that together is an environment for success.”
McCarthy has transformed that potential into progress. His Dual Wrap Roller has a finalized design, patent filings, shipping systems and marketing all in place. He plans to run Drago Boxing full-time with his friend Richardson, selling his rollers through social media and direct-to-consumer channels, while training daily in pursuit of a spot at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“Morrissette Entreprenuership helped me turn my passion for boxing into a real, viable business.”
