Leonardo S. Sarao

Leonardo Salvador Sarao Sr. was the founder and owner of the Sarao Motors, a company known for designing, manufacturing and selling the jeepney, the most popular mode of transportation in the Philippines. He is not the first person to alter the surplus jeeps left behind by the U.S. Army from World War II, but he saw them as a business opportunity for mass transportation. He redesigned the surplus jeeps to increase its functionality by extending the body to accommodate at least twice the number of passengers and by putting some railings at the back and top for extra passengers to cling to, and for cargoes. He revolutionized a burgeoning industry and changed the life of generations of Filipinos.