A Cut Above the Rest
There’s always a life outside the game. Some athletes are already running businesses, chasing hobbies, curating collections, pursuing other professions, and giving back—while still counting points. This feature is the first in a series that goes inside the lives of athletes building, creating, and living beyond the court.
ATHLETES HAVE A SHORT RUNWAY. Most live in seasons, stats, and games, thinking that their future is “later.”
Not PBA star and former Green Archer Aljun Melecio. He thinks in years, not in quarters.
At 28, Melecio is already getting ready for retirement in the future.
“I want to think about retirement without panicking,” he says. He knows basketball is temporary.
“I want to be able to play until the ball stops bouncing,” he says, thinking out loud about his career’s lifespan.
So he went into business.
Observe. Calculate. Move. The Business Playbook of Aljun Melecio
Observe, calculate, move. That’s how Aljun Melecio makes business decisions. Its the same instinct he employed as an an athlete when reading defenses and make shot calls.—except now, the court is the business landscape.
Currently, Aljun Melecio’s business portfolio spans multiple industries. A livestock business with San Miguel as a major client. A coffee farm in Bukidnon. He’s also working on a land subdivision project in Bukidnon, near a developing airport. And then, he’s renting out a couple of Airbnbs in Siargao.
Each one begins the same way: by paying attention.
In Siargao, he noticed an Airbnb fully booked for two months straight. That’s when he realized he could tap into the same demand. He didn’t overthink it. Instead, he looked for land. He started.
In Bukidnon, he recognized the value of geography. “The climate is cooler and the elevation is higher, perfect for growing coffee.”
But also, something slower, but more enduring. Coffee requires patience, and belief in growing not just the beans but the community around it.
Now, Melecio is dabbling in barbershops. Well, not exactly. At least not in the way that Modern Fox is. He discovered this latest venture the same way he discovers most opportunities, by paying attention.
How a Regular Became a Partner
He started as a regular. No agenda. Just a haircut, and maybe a drink, a place to unwind after games.
But even then, he was already doing what he always does: Observing the flow of people, the rhythm of the space, and the way customers kept coming back.
That didn’t go unnoticed.
Ton Villanueva, former high-level petrol executive and founder of Modern Fox, began to take note of Melecio as someone who understood the business without needing it explained. They became friends. Conversations followed. And somewhere in between those visits, an unexpected dynamic started to form.
You could call it a mentor-student thing, if you needed to name it. But there were no lessons, no formal handoffs. Just proximity. Just someone building something, and someone else watching closely enough to understand it.
There was no pitch nor any plan laid out.
Just observation. Then calculation.
And then, one day, the move.
“Let’s do a second branch!” Melecio said.
And just like that, the regular became a partner.
Modern Fox is a barbershop-coffee-bar hybrid in BGC that became a supporting piece of this journey.
“You work so hard Monday to Saturday… and at the end of the day, we want a place to unwind and decompress,” says Ton Villanueva.
“Unload what you’re carrying… before you see your kids and have dinner with them, magaan na yung feeling mo.”
“When I was expatriated in Vietnam… when I get home, wala akong kausap,” Villanueva recalls. “I wanted to look for a place where I can talk to somebody,” Villanueva told ALL-STAR.
So he found himself sitting at bars, speaking to whoever was there.
“Then I said, there’s a big opportunity for this in the Philippines.”
When the first branch opened in BGC, it proved him right. It became a place people returned to, again and again, until it started to feel like theirs.
That’s exactly what Melecio felt after coming to the shop.
Not the haircut, not the coffee, not even the drink.
That feeling—lightness, even if temporary—is what Modern Fox is built around.
The Modern Gentleman
Villanueva calls Melecio the “classic example of the Modern Fox” because he understands the rhythm of responsibility. Work from morning to evening. Carry pressure quietly.
Provide. Endure. Repeat.
And then—find a place where you can put it all down, even just for a while: Modern Fox. A haircut, a drink, and a conversation that doesn’t ask too much from you.
“Before you go home to your family, you’ve already exhaled,” says Villanueva.
What Sports Taught Aljun Melecio About Business
We asked Melecio what sports taught him about business.
He grinds it down to two things: Study and delayed gratification.
“The first value that I could think of is having a competitive mindset. Sport teaches you how to win. When it comes to business, studying it, studying your competitors, always pursuing growth, and not settling for less, those are some things I picked up from sports.”
“And also, I think it’s important to have a delayed gratification mindset,” he adds.
“In sports, hindi mo makukuha agad yung goal mo. In business… you don’t get immediate profit. Maybe after a year. You have to think long-term.”
So you learn to wait. To trust the reps.
“Get the reps!” Ton and Aljun shout, almost like a mantra.
But the real play?
Some businesses fail, some barely survive. And some take off. Aljun doesn’t waste time worrying which is which. He watches, he calculates, he moves—and the scoreboard doesn’t matter.
The real game is building something, even if no one notices.
Observe. Calculate. Move. And keep playing, even when the game is already bigger than the court.
Visit Modern Fox Barber & Lounge at The Sapphire Bloc, Phase 2 Sapphire Roard, Ortigas, and at Level 1, Tower 3 Robinsons Trion, 8th Avenue, corner McKinley Parkway, BGC.
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