Primary Job Title Founder and CEO Primary Organization
Student.com
Location United Arab Emirates, Asia Regions Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Middle East Gender Male
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Luke is Founder and CEO of Student.com, the world’s leading marketplace for international student accommodation. An entrepreneur at heart, Luke had the idea for a student accommodation marketplace when friends in Asia asked for help finding accommodation while they studied abroad. An initial platform - Overseas Student Living - was created in 2011
and became the first online marketplace for Asian students to access student accommodation in the UK.
Luke quickly realised there was an opportunity to help a rapidly increasing global community of international students. In 2014, Shakil Khan and JP Jones joined the business as Co-founders, bringing the key strategic elements necessary to take the company to the next level and subsequently the rebrand to Student.com.
By 2015, Student.com had become the largest accommodation marketplace for international students studying abroad, and in that year alone the business did over $110M worth of bookings from students in over 100 countries worldwide.
A keen businessman, Luke was involved in the Chinese real estate sector prior to founding Student.com. Before moving to Asia, where he has lived for over 10 years, he had first-hand experience of being an international student, both in London where he received a bachelor’s degree in Banking and International Finance from Cass Business School and in Milan, where he received a Master’s in International Economics and Management from SDA Bocconi.
Though born in London to Irish-Portuguese parents, Luke grew up in Antwerp, Belgium so considers himself a truly international entrepreneur, speaking English, Chinese and Portuguese.

