Women in Business: Canem Arkan

Residence: Fayetteville

Education: B.A., economics and communications, University of Pennsylvania

Professional background: Endeavor NWA launched as the sixth U.S. office of entrepreneurial nonprofit Endeavor Global. Arkan is also managing director at Axonic Capital in the business development team, covering institutional clients across the U.S. Before that, she spent 10 years at Goldman Sachs, primarily within the mortgage department. She began as an investment banking analyst at Citigroup.

What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishments or wins in your current job? Endeavor scours the region for entrepreneurs, helping them break down barriers to success, offering world class strategic advice, and opening doors to both human and financial capital. With Endeavor’s guidance, these entrepreneurs can then become role models, encourage others to innovate and take risks, and create sustainable economic growth, thus giving back to the ecosystem. I was thrilled when I was able to launch an Endeavor office in Northwest Arkansas with the support of the Walton Family Foundation and an incredible founding board.

We entered our second year at the start of the pandemic and took on all the difficulties that entailed. Despite this headwind, we were able to broaden access to support and resources, partner with our community members and continue to operate at full speed during this past year. I’m really proud of my team and thankful for my board members for enabling us to do that.

What advice would you give young women who are currently at the beginning of their careers? It’s important to create your own personal definition of success.  What are you trying to achieve in all aspects of your life? Work, family, health, friends, hobbies? Take frequent stock of your long-term goals and work on filling the gaps. Align what you do with what is most important to you. There is a fallacy that “leaning in” means only one thing, but this is not true.

What is a leader’s best asset? Leaders should be authentic, unafraid to confront complacent habits to make the required changes to keep moving forward, with an emphasis on compassion and long term culture. Great leaders should set great examples.

Can you recommend a book that has had an influence on your career? How did it influence you? I spent many afternoons as a young girl absorbed in the adventures of “The Baby-Sitters Club” by Ann M. Martin. These books are the reason I fell in love with reading and the stories introduced me to the concept of entrepreneurial spirit: A group of girls launch their own successful business from the ground-up. They solve problems, tackle challenging customers, market themselves and make money. These strong characters served as role models to me from a young age.

What is something distinctive that people would be surprised to know about you? I was born in Istanbul, Turkey, raised in Baghdad, Iraq, as well as New York City. I speak Turkish fluently and have thus far yet to meet an American who can pronounce my name correctly on the first try without a little help.

Can you share what you have learned about your business from the COVID-19 pandemic? The founder of Endeavor says “When economics turn down, entrepreneurs turn up,” and that has certainly been true during the pandemic. I saw incredible acts of generosity, ingenuity, and grace as our entrepreneurs rapidly responded, for example producing sanitizer instead of beverages, creating overnight work-from-home technologies, and retooling medical diagnostics. My takeaway was that there is no wrong time to be an entrepreneur.

What was your dream job as a kid and why? I always wanted to be an archaeologist for the simple reason that I fell in love with the “Indiana Jones” movies. I wanted to travel the world, study dinosaurs and find ancient artifacts. That dream didn’t quite work out, but I’ve been lucky enough to travel — 30-plus countries at last count — and I spend a lot of time talking about dinosaurs with my 6- and 8-year-old boys.

If you have a bucket list, what are the top three things on it? I would love to get my pilot’s license. I took my first plane ride when I was 6 months old, and it has been a source of joy ever since. Second, I would like to become fluent in a third language. I have a basic but strong foundation in French from high school, and I would love to master the language. Finally, I have a huge backlog of cherished childhood books and films that I want to show to my boys. We’ve actually now begun this journey, but there are many to go.

What’s the next big personal or career challenge you plan to take on? I am excited by the early progress we have made in cultivating entrepreneurship in Northwest Arkansas, and I want to take that momentum and expand to neighboring cities and states. I want Northwest Arkansas and the surrounding regions to become synonymous with entrepreneurship, innovation, and capital access, which at a certain scale become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What are your hobbies? We have taken advantage of the cycling mecca that NWA has become. My family and I have biked from Mt. Kessler to Bella Vista and back — albeit in segments — which was no small feat for my 6-year-old.

What’s your favorite app at the moment? I love The New York Times Crossword. I am proud to have recently set my own personal record, completing a Monday in under eight minutes. I’m currently working on conquering Thursday puzzles. They increase in difficulty by day as the week progresses.