To generate income for their daily needs, he used his father's polo ponies to offer kalesa rides and even befriended General Ota, the head of the Kempeitai in the process.
Zóbel joined Ayala y Compañia in 1955 and worked closely with his uncle, Col. McMicking, who was credited for engineering the transformation of Makati from vast tracts of swamplands into the Philippines' premier financial and commercial district.
Like McMicking, Zóbel showed great strength and business savvy in contributing to the growth of Ayala as one of the Philippines' biggest and most respected conglomerates.
[4] In 1981, he founded the Makati Business Club (MBC) with Jose V. Romero Jr., Rogelio Pantaleon and Bernardo Villegas to support or oppose policies which affected national life.
He felt that the business community needed to speak out as a single solid voice and not lobby for its own corporate or sectoral interest.
On his own, he took on projects of unprecedented dimensions in 1984, building the Istana Nurul Iman (official residence of the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah) at a total cost of around US$1.4 billion under his company, Ayala International, Inc.
He was first married to Rocío Urquijo Novales with whom he had three children – Jácobo Santiago "Santi" (1954–1965), María de las Mercedes, and Iñigo.