Meet the Twentysomething Guy Backing Some of Your Favorite Local Sports Teams

We’re pretty sure every kid who loves sports has dreamt of calling the shots for a professional sports team. Who wouldn’t actually want to live out their general manager dreams that we just get to do on fantasy basketball or on MyTeam when you play video games. 

In reality, only a very select few actually get to realize these dreams. And we actually know someone who does.

Meet Jacob Lao. He recently graduated from Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in Restaurant Entrepreneurship and is currently the team manager of the Converge FiberXers in the PBA.

But that’s just his part-time job. “Mainly, I'm in our family business working together with my dad in our daily mining projects and helping out in our restaurant businesses,” he says. “I'm also the managing director of Strong Group Athletics.”

Strong Group Athletics (SGA) is a company under the Lao family’s Strong Group whose aim is to help athletes excel in the sport that they love, giving them an opportunity to showcase their talent, providing them good education, and helping them unlock their potential.

The SGA logo can be seen prominently on the jerseys of some of the best college and high school teams the group very generously supports. The group also backs young, exciting new teams in various local professional basketball and volleyball leagues, and Jacob Lao is the young man behind all of them. 

“We want to help kids through sports,” he says.

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Family Matters

“Growing up in a Chinese household, we were already trained to learn the ropes of our family business at a very young age,” he says. “Since this is what we grew up in, all my siblings decided to help grow our businesses instead of branching out. It wasn't planned. It’s just that at very young age and being around our parents and uncles who were businessmen and tycoons, I already had been drawn to it so it's something I really wanted to do.

In college, Lao had a laser-sharp focus on learning all he can to eventually help add value to the family business. But he says he couldn’t pass up the many opportunities that presented themselves along the way.

Aside from being business-minded, Lao and his siblings also share something else in common. “Our family loves sports,” he shares. “Me and my brother were basketball players. Now, he's into golf. My sister also used to play volleyball and basketball. Sports is in our genes.”

The Patriarch

You don’t need to look very far to understand where the Lao siblings’ passion for sports comes from. Their father, or Boss Frank as he is known in local sports circles, is a well-known sports patron, although not a lot of people know how his affinity for competition began. 

“My dad experienced all the hardships of being an athletic scholar,” the young Lao says. “He used to play volleyball and knew how it was like where all you have is yourself and your love for the sport was the way to make life better. He would have early morning training then go to class then work at sales until late at night to help his family. He wasn’t able to finish college because of that. That’s why when he had a chance to start helping others, he always took that route especially with student athletes because he knew how hard it is for them.”

Boss Frank’s support for sports really started when his sons got into basketball themselves. “As time went on, he was able to learn how to manage a team and build relationships with the schools,” Lao says. “It all began with the first NCAA Juniors Championship of La Salle Green Hills in Season 93. That was his first team. He saw that we needed help in order to compete with other teams and, knowing him, he has an itch for winning and breaking losing streaks.”

At the time, La Salle Green Hills had never won a championship in 68 years. Eventually, Lao says schools started asking for his father for financial support after seeing his passion for sports and how he helps out student athletes so every year, more and more teams would get added which eventually led to what SGA is today. He never turned a blind eye to programs that needed support, which is what I am proud of. He knows no school colors. It’s all just about the love for the game.”

Boss Frank’s success in business has so far extended to his family’s venture into sports, with the teams he has helped vastly improving thanks to SGA’s support. For starters, recruiting better talent has become a little bit easier for these rebuilding teams. It takes a lot of work to build a championship-caliber team and the younger Lao has had a great mentor in his corner.

“My dad is my hero,” he says. “The guy works like an artist. It’s always nice to see how he thinks. He serves as the biggest inspiration to us because of the example he sets. More than ourselves and our family, he would always tell us to pass it on, to share our blessings to other people and that's what we want to do. To help more people and it just so happened that it's through sports.” 

Spreading His Wings

After winning a championship in the NCAA Juniors division in his senior year of high school at La Salle Green Hills, Lao decided to move to arch-rival Ateneo for college. He played point guard for the Blue Eagles in the UAAP for a couple of seasons and left Loyola Heights as a champion in Season 85. 

“Ateneo will always have a special place in my heart,” he says. “My alma mater gave me so much experience that I could never buy. Being a student athlete back taught me a lot of lessons that I use on and off the court. It helped me develop characteristics that have helped prepare me for the work I do.” he says.

“My experience as a student-athlete has played a big role in my preparation for real-world tasks and problems and just like in sports,” he adds. “You just got to have courage and face them head on.”

Bringing Superman to Manila

With his youth also comes a refreshing imagination and perspective that we have not seen in other local sports executives until now. For a while now, sports fans have been boxed into accepting archaic parameters, but Lao seems to have bigger plans in store for them.

In 2022, Strong Group sent a collective of college stars from the UAAP and NCAA to compete in an annual international basketball tournament held in Dubai. The squad was backstopped by past NBA players, most notably former Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young but eventually failed to advance to the later rounds of the competition.

“After last year’s quarterfinals finish, we were disappointed so we decided that we needed to start planning early for who to get for this year’s team,” he says. “We felt that we needed experience to win and the best way was to look to the NBA.

Lao says they were fortunate to have Andray Blatche help them recruit Dwight Howard to come play for the Philippines. It was the team’s determination that ultimately helped them land Howard, especially with the player having an NBA title under his belt and also being a three-time Defensive Player of the Year.

“I grew up watching him in Orlando and in the Olympics so it was a no-brainer when he was available, we had to take him,” he says.

It was a dream come true for a lot of Filipino fans to see another former Laker not only come visit the Philippines but also represent the country at the annual tourney in Dubai. SGA improved to a runner-up finish with Howard leading the team.

“He was really great, such a nice guy, very well-respected, and he's super funny,” Lao says about Howard. “He’s been great to us and to the fans. What surprised us so much was how he made sure not to leave any fan behind. Even if he’s tired, he makes sure to give them a moment.

“Hopefully bringing him here has inspired many Filipinos and basketball fans,” he adds. “On the court, he's just what you expect him to be. A leader and a winner.”

I had the opportunity to chat with Howard during his visit and the NBA veteran was just as impressed with the young executive.

“Just the energy that he has, what he wants to accomplish here, I’m glad to be part of it,” Howard said about Lao. “I’m glad to be able to lead these younger guys in the right direction. It’s just amazing to be in that leadership role and I’m looking forward to continuing the relationship with Jacob and the rest of the guys on the team and the relationship with Filipino sports.”

Howard also spoke about the possibility of maybe playing in the PBA in the future. “I love being an ambassador for the game,” he said. “I love traveling the world and helping people smile. That’s very special. This is a place where I have tons of fans and I know they would love to see me play in the PBA, but I think I’m too tall,” he said with a laugh.

Lao confirmed having had conversations with the former Lakers center. “He has expressed his interest and we're definitely considering him. We know his real height but like I always say, I can't bend the rules and it's not in my lane,” he explains. “Maybe when the time comes that the PBA decides on what height they really want or maybe remove the (height limit) rule, I know Superman is one call away!”

The Work Continues

But Lao has other things to worry about at the moment. College basketball season is just a few months away and expectations abound for the teams SGA has put their support behind. Lao also is on the lookout for the next school or athlete to add to their growing roster.

“We hope to help as many athletes as we can, not just in basketball or volleyball, but also other sports where we can actually shine internationally,” he says. “That’s really the mission of SGA. Provide them with the opportunity to showcase their skills and talents and to be the home for athletes that will one day represent our country.” 

Not bad for someone living every sports fan’s dream. Just barely two years out of college, it seems like there’s no limit to what Jacob Lao can and will do to shatter the glass ceilings for Philippine sports.

“I’m focused on my tasks now and what's on my plate so I just want to be the best at my job, whatever it may be. Hopefully I would be able to help more people,” he says. “For SGA, hopefully we can help produce the next Filipino world champion or Olympic gold medalist. Definitely a bigger family with more athletes, more involvement in other sports, and just bring pride to the Philippines and the Filipino people.”