About Credit Blende Training
Credit Blende Training is the college of choice for Credit Professionals and Sales Practitioners wishing to expand their skills set and add value to the workplace. 25 years since opening its first campus, CBT has matured into a comprehensive adult learning hub for Credit Management, Accounting and associated courses. Our lecturers and course facilitators are hand picked and include some of the best academic minds and Credit professionals in the country, all registered with FASSET and highly respected in their chosen field.
Our course variety grows consistently, remaining relevant for the professional environments of our learners. Our material, lecturers and values are entrenched in education and skills development, and CBT graduates emerge enlightened and equipped to apply learned theory to real-world challenges in their workplace. At CBT, the teaching style has always been focused on providing a structured but comfortable and nurturing learning environment that supports the career advancement of those working in South Africa’s public and private sector.
CBT also develops tailored courses and customised workshops for companies with specific needs. We have worked with a wide range of organisations, from start ups to SMEs to Blue Chip corporates including Barlows, Sappi, PG Group and Hans Merensky.
CBT’s accreditations have a Level 4 BBBEE rating.
The CBT Story
Credit Blende Training was started by Heather Lawlor in 1998, then a Credit practitioner with experience in facilitating training on a part time basis for various companies as well as some of South Africa’s best-known Management schools.
Heather saw a gap in the sector and went after it, opening her own Credit Management college – Credit Blende Training. It quickly outgrew its premises and moved to a new campus with better facilities in Bedfordview (the Mediterranean Conference Centre). Shortly afterwards, a second campus was opened in the West Rand which later moved to Randburg. Combined, the Bedfordview and Randburg campuses attract an average of 420 student enrolments a year, with a distance learning model available too.
A very successful partnership with SAICA saw CBT introducing new Accounting courses, establishing itself as an internationally-accredited provider. In 2016, a strategic alliance with ICB saw further courses introduced, including Business Management and Entrepreneurship.
What sets CBT apart from other adult learning colleges in South Africa is the fact that despite its phenomenal growth over the last 25 years, the ethos is still warm, nurturing and focused on upliftment through education.
Heather remains an active participant and facilitator at CBT, drawing on her 48 years’ experience and vast insight in this sector. She is known for her ethical and honest approach, and her unwavering passion for hard work and mentorship of those who want a solid professional future.
The CBT Mission - 25 Years Later
Credit Blende Training’s roots lie in the training of Credit Professionals in South Africa and this still guides our vision and mission today. We strive to make the discipline of Credit Management more accessible to professionals via a fully fledged business college, offering education to a diverse cross section of adult learners from different socio-economic backgrounds. By developing human capital, we believe we can use education as the catalyst for empowerment and change.
In short, our ethos and approach is about leaving behind a legacy of communities that recognise the true value of education and its role in building a society of prosperous and ethical professionals and businesses.
Heather Lawlor, Founder of CBT
Heather Lawlor, the driving force behind Credit Blende Training, is a qualified Facilitator, Assessor and Moderator, and is registered with FASSET. She has 30 years’ experience in training and facilitation and has spent over 40 years working in the Credit industry. She is widely respected for her course development skills and is recognised as South Africa’s leading expert in Credit Management.
Heather has won numerous awards, including the Regional Award for Credit Executive of the Year, as well as the National Award for Credit Executive of the Year. In the realm of education, she has taken on facilitation roles for various learning institutes including being Senior Facilitator for Damelin Management School for 10 years, as well as being Damelin’s National Subject Head.
Heather’s lifelong passion has always been the development and growth of individuals and she consistently seeks to pass on her knowledge and skills as an educator. She opened Credit Blende Training with the dream to share it in her later years with the love of her life Michael Koukis, an Economics lecturer at Wits University. He was murdered before their dream could be fulfilled, but their combined vision lives on in Heather’s tireless work with her students, colleagues and in the community.
As Michael used to say: ‘What Heather does in a day most couldn’t accomplish in week’.
Books Written and Published
The Company You Keep
The Credit Handbook of South Africa
Custom Courseware
Heather has written custom content for a vast range of businesses, including PG Glass, Glass South Africa, PG Group, Llumar, Primador, Federated Timbers, Imation (3m), Grinaker, HM Holdings, Sky Products, Multotec, Corobrick, Graskop Sawmills, Fuchs Lubricants, Scaw Metals (part of Anglo American) National Brands, Lafarge Credit, Lafarge Sales, Nashua, Cell C, National Auto Glass, Coastal Glass, ICI Dulux , PPC Cement, Tiger Brands Consumer, WSP Group Africa, Masani Petroleum Solutions, Experian, Kredit Inform, Lisho Events Management, Marcus Evans International, Excellente International, IIR, CBM, Alusani etc.
Committees and Chairs
- Current Director of the Institute of Credit Management (ICM)
- Vice Chairperson on the Board for five years
- Chairperson of the Regional Committee for Johannesburg for three years
- Senior Facilitator for Damelin Management School for 10 years, as well as being National Subject Head