“During the COVID-induced lockdown period, the entire society was going through some sort of trauma, so I wanted to give some positive light to our society by telling stories of a wide range of people; this is how I first started Short Stories,” said Md. Arif Hasan, a Dhaka University graduate who runs one of the most popular educational bite-sized media platforms. “Short Stories” has talked about his journey with TBS Graduate. 

Md Arif Hasan studied Software Engineering at the University of Dhaka; currently, he is a lecturer at the Bangladesh University of Business and Technology. According to him, from Notre Dame College, Dhaka, he has been intricately connected with academia, and this is what led him to manage the ‘Humans of DU’ page once, featuring many stories, and then contribute at the Daily Ittefaq. So after getting into the ‘media sector,’ Arif finally established his very own ‘Short Stories.’

“When we see the landscape of students wanting to study abroad, or preparing for international competition, or university admission, or any jobs or career, we see a large portion of the youth who can’t get any guidelines on what or how should be done; this is one of the gaps I targeted to address at ‘Short Stories.’”

“People could know what successful applicants did and how they did it, or they could even reach out to those applicants to receive further guidelines,” said Arif Hasan. “This was also one of the motivations behind establishing ‘Short Stories’, to fill the gaps among our community.”

As for which topics to cover, Arif Hasan said he has always been selecting topics based on the impact they have on Bangladeshi youth. Even in July last year, ‘Short Stories’ temporarily suspended its regular work of featuring individual stories, and instead, they were covering the uprising’s news that had the most impact on the youth.

Arif said, “I believe our platform’s growth also speaks about it. We cover content that is likely to create impact, and thus the audience receives our work, making the platforms collectively reach over 400,000 people, including our YouTube channel with over 16,000 subscribers.” They have already featured more than 1000 stories of different people, from Job sectors to abroad, such as people from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Microsoft, Google, etc.

In the early phase of Short Stories, up until the platform surpassed 100,000 followers on Facebook, Arif Hasan single-handedly managed everything—selecting topics, writing features, and designing visuals without any external help. 

“At first, it wasn’t much of a hassle since university classes were off due to the COVID-19 lockdown,” he said, “but once classes resumed and other responsibilities piled up, it became harder every day.” Despite being a demanding Software Engineering major, Arif continued this effort relentlessly. What kept him going was the inspiration he drew from the people connected with—brilliant minds from academia and industry whose stories became fuel for his own motivation.

Behind the scenes, Arif had a comeback story of his own. In his very first semester at the University of Dhaka, he faced accommodation and financial challenges while staying in the university hall. He began his academic journey with a CGPA of just 3.33 in the first semester. But instead of giving up, he turned his situation around—never letting his CGPA drop again and ultimately graduating with a CGPA of 3.79, scoring a perfect 4.00 in his last two undergraduate semesters. 

He is now pursuing his Master’s degree in Software Engineering with a perfect 4.00 GPA in the first two semesters as well. “Along with my 400K+ audience, I too got inspiration from Short Stories,” he reflected. “The platform that shares others’ comebacks also helped me shape my own.”

After a groundbreaking July where the platform reached 20 million people in just 20 days, Arif realised that Short Stories had the potential to go beyond personal stories and make a mark in youth-focused news. This led to the founding of a sister concern, Beyond Stories, aiming to amplify impact across wider sectors of society.

In running a purpose-driven educational platform, Arif Hasan’s leadership is undeniably one of the few great ones, as this makes ‘Short Stories’ coherent. He said, “Whenever running a team of people, I’ve always wanted to understand the other person’s perspective and motivation. This helps me relate to them and understand how I could use their work in the best way possible. Now, I have a team of over 10 people, who are also very dedicated to their work, and thus ‘Short Stories’ works coherently.” 

Short Stories has always been more than just a media platform—it’s a movement rooted in inclusivity and national progress. I envision a space where a curious schoolboy from a remote Bangladeshi village can learn from and connect with the brightest minds—professors, scientists, innovators—from institutions like MIT, Harvard, and beyond.

My goal is to build a bridge between dreams and opportunities, between untapped talent and global mentors. I believe that one day, through our ever-growing community, all brilliant Bangladeshis—whether at home or abroad—will contribute back to their motherland in meaningful ways. 

Short Stories is the seed of that long-term vision: to foster a network that empowers, educates, and elevates every aspiring individual, no matter where they come from. To ensure that reach and impact, I keep the platform simple, relatable, and value-driven—because if knowledge and inspiration aren’t accessible to all, they can’t truly change lives.