{"id":108514,"date":"2021-10-05T23:35:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T03:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=108514"},"modified":"2021-10-05T23:35:44","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T03:35:44","slug":"hispanic-businesswoman-veteran-buys-cleaning-service-based-in-macungie-plans-to-expand-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=108514","title":{"rendered":"Hispanic businesswoman & veteran buys cleaning service based in Macungie, plans to expand it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of Lehigh Financial Group. Margaret Topiarz (left) Leila Duarte (right).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania _ <\/strong>Leila Duarte, a financial analyst who lives in Bethlehem, has purchased MDT Cleaning Services LLC, based in Macungie, from its owners, Margaret and Joe Topiarz, who are retiring. MDT provides professional office, commercial and home cleaning services in the Lehigh Valley. Jeff Barber of Lehigh Financial Group LLC in Allentown helped Duarte secure an SBA 7a loan to acquire the business.<\/p>\n

Duarte said she has long wanted to own her own business and saw the cleaning service as an ideal opportunity for her talents and the times. Duarte plans to retain MDT\u2019s current employees and hire two more as she expands the service in the Bethlehem and Easton areas. \u201cWe will keep the name MDT in Macungie and move to Elite Clean 4 You in the Bethlehem and Easton areas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Despite the pandemic, Duarte believes this is an opportune time to open her business. \u201cPeople need cleaning services, especially now, and there are responsible and reliable people who clean and who want to come on board and work for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Topiarzes started the business in 1998 and have a well-established clientele.<\/p>\n

Duarte said she is excited to follow in the footsteps of her late mother, Elsa Vazquez, who was a well-known businesswoman in the Hispanic community in the Lehigh Valley. Vazquez launched Bet-El Counseling Services PC, providing mental health services in South Bethlehem and Allentown.<\/p>\n

Barber said he has no doubt that Duarte will succeed. \u201cShe is very resourceful and enthusiastic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The loan was funded by Firstrust Bank and the business broker was Subbu Perugu of Transworld Business Advisors in Macungie.<\/p>\n

Lehigh Financial Group, LLC is a leading source of innovative real estate capital solutions and financing options for commercial customers. The company, based in Allentown, serves the Lehigh Valley region by providing capital for businesses and investors locally, regionally and nationwide. For more information on Lehigh Financial Group LLC, please see our website at <\/em>http:\/\/www.lehighfinancialgroup.com.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 
\nInformation provided to TVL by Beth Orenstein on behalf of:
\nLehigh Financial Group, LLC
\n122 North 5th Street
\nAllentown Pa 18102
\nhttp:\/\/www.lehighfinancialgroup.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of Lehigh Financial Group. Margaret Topiarz (left) Leila Duarte (right).   BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania _ Leila Duarte, a financial analyst who lives in Bethlehem, has purchased MDT Cleaning Services … Continue reading Hispanic businesswoman & veteran buys cleaning service based in Macungie, plans to expand it<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Leila-Duarte.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/108515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}