How Khan Farhana built a 300,000-strong LinkedIn community

LinkedIn's influence in the professional realm has been well-known for many years now. Everyone knows using LinkedIn effectively can lead to securing a good job. However, do we truly understand how to effectively harness LinkedIn's potential?

Many continue to stumble and lack the knowledge of the right tools to navigate through LinkedIn. For instance, Khan Farhana did not quite know what to do when she first opened her LinkedIn profile in 2014. She opened her account out of curiosity without the know-how to navigate and benefit from it.

In late 2016, she took it up as a passion to understand and use LinkedIn better.
 
"I started watching tutorials on YouTube on how to properly navigate LinkedIn. Slowly, I started becoming active on the platform, and started posting blogs regularly," she said.

Farhana was amazed by the diverse reach of her content and the positive feedback she received from her audience. "LinkedIn is a secure platform for expressing your professional insights and personal opinions on current issues.

It's remarkable for its absence of hateful comments or bullying, and the reach algorithm is fascinating, as it connects you with a diverse audience," she explained.

Farhana graduated from Southeast University in 2018, majoring in CSE. In January 2019, she landed her first job in Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID) through LinkedIn.

Slowly, Farhana became familiar with the concept of 'personal branding' and started promoting her work. Then, she became a content creator in LinkedIn in a short time. By the end of 2019, she had more than 20,000 followers on the platform.

"As my follower base expanded, I started getting a lot of instant messages from random people – asking for career advice, how to write a CV, etc. I tried to help all of them as much as I could. Many of them even landed good jobs through my networks," she added.

This is when Farhana dove into the depths of the potential of LinkedIn and networking. But then there was a problem: coaching one-on-one started to become a challenge because Farhana's follower base crossed six digits.

To cater to big groups, she started conducting seminars, training sessions and online classes on LinkedIn. In the seminars, Farhana invites industry experts and connects them with her trainees.

"Once, I ran a campaign to review CVs. To my surprise, more than 2,000 CVs were submitted for review. I was getting overwhelmed trying to review all of them.  I understood [then] I needed to build a community where I could coach some individuals and they could coach others," she said.

Out of her passion for helping people, she took on the initiative to establish a LinkedIn group named "FarhanasBrainstation," which now is the largest Bangladeshi youth network on LinkedIn.

Farhana now has an impressive following of over 123,000 on her personal profile. The community she has built consists of more than 300,000 professionals and youth. Together, they have formed a strong network that fosters collaboration, learning and growth. And she organically expanded her reach, meaning, she did not use sponsored posts or pay the platform to boost her posts.

The community serves as a hub for connecting and empowering young talent, providing them with the necessary support for skill development and access to job opportunities.

Today, Farhana guides the community in large groups, with each batch comprising 100 individuals who undergo a six-month training programme in entrepreneurship, personal development, leadership and more. Farhana personally selects dedicated volunteers and provides one-on-one training, and these volunteers subsequently lead their respective batches.

Within each batch, participants are organised into seven teams, and each team collaborates on at least one Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) by collaborating with different private organisations. In this way, to date, Farhana has coached more than 1,200 individuals so far.

Lately, FarhanasBrainstation has forged productive partnerships with BYLC and BDJobs. Her dedicated volunteers actively organise and participate in various fairs and workshops organised by these platforms. Despite limited financial resources, her trainees gain valuable teamwork experience, work alongside industry experts, and refine their skills. This provides them with excellent networking opportunities.

"Their contributions are voluntary, but we've introduced a symbolic 'fake money' system. Following each event, they assess their efforts and assign a notional monetary value to their work," she said. Farhana believes this practice instils a sense of achievement, further motivating them to continue and flourish.

Farhana's career has also been shaped by LinkedIn. In 2021, she got another job in a government project as a business analyst. In the same year, she was honoured with the prestigious "Next Gen Leader" (Youth Spirit Award) for her exceptional leadership in the field of education during the Covid–19 pandemic. She conducted many workshops at the time.

In 2022, she commenced her role as an ICT Innovation Officer at UNDP in Timor-Leste, which required her to relocate. However, this change didn't hinder her commitment to her community. She continued her mission remotely, even while working full-time in a foreign country.

Jointly with UNDP Timor-Leste and MoYES, she got the opportunity to author a book titled "IoT for Beginners." The book was designed to empower and inspire youth leadership, providing aspiring young leaders with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in the world of IoT (Internet of Things).

"I feel responsible for my community. A lot of people look up to me and I don't want to let them down. No matter how busy I am, I am convinced to keep my mission on the go," she said.

Farhana returned to the country this year after completing the UNDP project. Now she works as a consultant on different international projects. Throughout her career, Farhana has made significant contributions to renowned organisations in Bangladesh, including BIID, eGeneration, Oxfam, GAIN and CYMMIT BD.

For over seven years, through meticulously organised training sessions, seminars and online classes, she has positively impacted the lives of over 15,000 students and young professionals, empowering them to excel in their careers. She has been invited as a guest speaker in different universities and reputed organisations too.

To date, Farhana never charged anyone on her LinkedIn community or beyond for her coaching services and expertise. In the upcoming years, she plans to collaborate more with different stakeholders so that her students will get access to a broader range of outlets to enhance their skills.