Team Clean Founder & President Donna Allie Honored As a Minority Business Leader by the Philadelphia Business Journal
Philadelphia, PA – September 23, 2009 – Donna Allie, the founder and President of Team Clean, a leading provider of janitorial services in the Philadelphia region, has been selected as a Minority Business Leaders by the Philadelphia Business Journal. She will be recognized on Thursday, September 24th at the Philadelphia Business Journal’s inaugural Minority Business Leader Awards program at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel.
Allie is one of a distinguished list of over 30 winners in the awards program, which will be conducted from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Other notable honorees this Thursday include David Cohen (Comcast), Bruce Crawley (Millenium 3 Management), Leon Singletary (First Contact HR) and David Brown (BrownPartners).
Team Clean was launched by Allie in the mid-1980s as a solo entrepreneur, and she has guided the company’s growth to over 700 employees and over $17 million in sales.
The company she founded on a shoe-string is now the #1-ranked Minority-Owned Business in Philadelphia (and #2-ranked Woman-Owned Business) according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Team Clean serves a variety of clients in government, education, industry, professional offices, sports and entertainment venues and events, including the landmark National Constitution Center and Cheyney University. Team Clean is certified as a women's business enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council and as a minority enterprise by the National Minority Supplier Development Council.
Last year, Allie was named one of the Philadelphia region’s 2008 Women of Distinction by the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Philadelphia Business Journal. She is currently a board member of the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation, and chairs the ex-offenders task force for the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board.
Allie recently was one of four local women business and community leaders speaking in the panel discussion, “Women Take Charge – Steps for Getting What You Want Out of Life.” Earlier this year, she was one of four local business and community leaders appearing on a WHYY-TV special program on Social Entrepreneurship, WHYY Boomervision! Special on Social Entrepreneurship, taped before a live studio audience at the WHYY Technology Center in Philadelphia. The program will be broadcast later this year on the Philadelphia PBS station.
Originally unable to find employment in her chosen field after college graduation, Allie was a single parent determined to find a way to support herself and her child. She had accompanied a friend on a job cleaning a home, and realized that there was an excellent income potential in cleaning houses. She answered newspaper advertisements for “cleaning ladies,” and began cleaning homes throughout Philadelphia’s suburban Main Line.
Team Clean grew when Allie began to respond to those newspaper ads by hiring women herself and sending them off in pairs to clean homes, establishing the burgeoning company’s “team” approach to cleaning. She took her first commercial contract in 1985 with the Upper Main Line YMCA.
In April 2007, she was honored by the Philadelphia Phillies with the inaugural Most Valuable Diverse Business Partner during ceremonies on Jackie Robinson Day at Citizens Bank Park.
In 1994, the African American Chamber of Commerce honored Allie with their Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, and in 1995 she received the Business Acumen Award from the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women. In 1996, Team Clean was selected as one of Philadelphia’s 100 Fastest Growing Small Businesses by the Wharton Small Business Development Center and the Philadelphia Business Journal, and in 1997 Allie was named one of Pennsylvania’s 50 Best Women in Business. Also in 1997, Allie and Team Clean received the Special Recognition Award for Excellence of Service from the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
In 2001, she was selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the "District Minority Small Business Person of the Year." The Business Center at New Covenant Campus honored Allie in 2006 with their Harriet Tubman Trailblazer Award. In addition, Allie has received the 62nd National Freedom Day Community Service Award, the City of Philadelphia’s Supply, Service and Equipment Award, and the Main Line Martin Luther King Jr. Association’s Business Leadership Award.
A graduate of Wilberforce University with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Vocational Rehabilitation, Allie has attended the Loyola Advanced Minority Business Executive Program as well as several courses at The Wharton Small Business Development Center.
Throughout the history of her company, Allie has remained committed to community service. She is an active board member of a number of non-profit organizations, including the African-American Chamber of Commerce, the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board, and the Universal Charter School.
Allie is one of a distinguished list of over 30 winners in the awards program, which will be conducted from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Other notable honorees this Thursday include David Cohen (Comcast), Bruce Crawley (Millenium 3 Management), Leon Singletary (First Contact HR) and David Brown (BrownPartners).
Team Clean was launched by Allie in the mid-1980s as a solo entrepreneur, and she has guided the company’s growth to over 700 employees and over $17 million in sales.
The company she founded on a shoe-string is now the #1-ranked Minority-Owned Business in Philadelphia (and #2-ranked Woman-Owned Business) according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Team Clean serves a variety of clients in government, education, industry, professional offices, sports and entertainment venues and events, including the landmark National Constitution Center and Cheyney University. Team Clean is certified as a women's business enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council and as a minority enterprise by the National Minority Supplier Development Council.
Last year, Allie was named one of the Philadelphia region’s 2008 Women of Distinction by the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Philadelphia Business Journal. She is currently a board member of the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation, and chairs the ex-offenders task force for the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board.
Allie recently was one of four local women business and community leaders speaking in the panel discussion, “Women Take Charge – Steps for Getting What You Want Out of Life.” Earlier this year, she was one of four local business and community leaders appearing on a WHYY-TV special program on Social Entrepreneurship, WHYY Boomervision! Special on Social Entrepreneurship, taped before a live studio audience at the WHYY Technology Center in Philadelphia. The program will be broadcast later this year on the Philadelphia PBS station.
Originally unable to find employment in her chosen field after college graduation, Allie was a single parent determined to find a way to support herself and her child. She had accompanied a friend on a job cleaning a home, and realized that there was an excellent income potential in cleaning houses. She answered newspaper advertisements for “cleaning ladies,” and began cleaning homes throughout Philadelphia’s suburban Main Line.
Team Clean grew when Allie began to respond to those newspaper ads by hiring women herself and sending them off in pairs to clean homes, establishing the burgeoning company’s “team” approach to cleaning. She took her first commercial contract in 1985 with the Upper Main Line YMCA.
In April 2007, she was honored by the Philadelphia Phillies with the inaugural Most Valuable Diverse Business Partner during ceremonies on Jackie Robinson Day at Citizens Bank Park.
In 1994, the African American Chamber of Commerce honored Allie with their Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, and in 1995 she received the Business Acumen Award from the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women. In 1996, Team Clean was selected as one of Philadelphia’s 100 Fastest Growing Small Businesses by the Wharton Small Business Development Center and the Philadelphia Business Journal, and in 1997 Allie was named one of Pennsylvania’s 50 Best Women in Business. Also in 1997, Allie and Team Clean received the Special Recognition Award for Excellence of Service from the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
In 2001, she was selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the "District Minority Small Business Person of the Year." The Business Center at New Covenant Campus honored Allie in 2006 with their Harriet Tubman Trailblazer Award. In addition, Allie has received the 62nd National Freedom Day Community Service Award, the City of Philadelphia’s Supply, Service and Equipment Award, and the Main Line Martin Luther King Jr. Association’s Business Leadership Award.
A graduate of Wilberforce University with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Vocational Rehabilitation, Allie has attended the Loyola Advanced Minority Business Executive Program as well as several courses at The Wharton Small Business Development Center.
Throughout the history of her company, Allie has remained committed to community service. She is an active board member of a number of non-profit organizations, including the African-American Chamber of Commerce, the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board, and the Universal Charter School.