Etienne Konan

Northeast Texas entrepreneur Etienne Konan has created and run an array of small businesses across the suburbs between Dallas and Fort Worth. Over the past decade, Mr. Konan has launched a smoke shop, a salon, a tax preparation business, and an ice cream company in such towns as Bedford, Colleyville, and Euless. Etienne Konan plans to consolidate some of his existing businesses and open more in the years to come.

Etienne Konan completed his undergraduate education at the Université de Cocody-Abidjan. An independent institution run by the Ministry of Education of the West African nation of the Ivory Coast, the university dates back to 1964; today, it serves a student population of 50,000. After immigrating to the United States, Etienne Konan worked for a tax preparation company in the Dallas/Fort Worth region and eventually opened Konan Tax Service, with offices in Euless. He expanded operations in 2010 to include AK Ice Cream, situated on State Highway 26 in Bedford, and learned to manage a small business on the job. Mr. Konan continues to purchase his retail stock from Yumi Ice Cream and Blue Bunny, a pair of distributors in Dallas, and to supervise the delivery staff and maintenance of the company's fleet. He also personally responds to his customers' questions and feedback from the AK Ice Cream office. In 2012, he acquired a smoke shop in Bedford, near his ice cream company.

Etienne Konan engages wholeheartedly in American culture. A soccer fan, he has also come to enjoy watching National Basketball Association games. He has supported the efforts of Texans Can! Academies to improve the academic performance of teens in the state by funding and operating public charter high schools. Mr. Konan has donated clothing and an automobile to the educational nonprofit, which runs alternative secondary schools in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, as well as elementary school programs.