Founder Leung Yun Chee emigrated from China to Singapore to seek his fortune. In a chance meeting, he met a German physician called Dr. Schmeidler, who gave him a recipe for a medicated oil, said to cure all manner of ailments. Leung Yun Chee was impressed by its wide range of applications, and was inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit that was sweeping Singapore, marketed and sold his newly discovered cure-all remedy. Axe Brand Universal Oil was born.