Edge Training Celebrates 25 Years in Corporate Training Industry
Edge Training, one of South Africa’s trusted accredited training providers, is celebrating its 25th anniversary in operation this year. Founded in 2000, the company has played a key role in workforce skills development, professional growth, and corporate training, having upskilled thousands of professionals across multiple industries.
Building Momentum Overtime: A Legacy of Accredited Training and Development
Since its establishment, Edge Training (Pty) Ltd has been a pillar of skills development training in South Africa, offering skills development programs for both entry level and leadership staff, employee empowerment initiatives, and solutions to B-BBEE compliance. Over the past two and a half decades, the company has expanded its offering across industries such as ICT, Logistics, Hospitality, Wholesale & Retail and more.
“Our 25-year milestone is a testament to the dedication of our team and the trust our clients have placed in us,” said Udo Harms, CEO at Edge Training. “We have always been committed to equipping professionals with skills that drive personal development impacting business success, and we look forward to continuing this mission in the years to come.”
Like all Classic Start-ups: Where it Began
Born out of a passion for educating and instilling the strong core value of changing lives, Founder and COO, Dave Blakemore, started developing the idea for Edge in his kitchen in the early 2000’s. With a knack for teaching and coaching sport, he built a small business named Edge Training with a Corporate and a Schools training section. The idea was always to teach leadership skills to both the current and the next generation of leaders.
Building on this passion and willingness to part knowledge, Dave secured his first adult vocational training session, delivering leadership skills training to 20 delegates from the South African Sugar Association. He also secured his first school leadership training camp with Durban Girls College.
The journey had officially begun and Edge started to expand its offering to offer more soft skill solutions. By 2002 Edge had partnered with the Durban University of Technology to offer NQF aligned training and sector specific skills. By 2007 Edge had branches in the Western Cape and Gauteng and soon after it expanded that to the Northen and Eastern Cape. The growing was just getting started!
“Our 25-year milestone is a testament to the dedication of our team and the trust our clients have placed in us,” said Udo Harms, CEO at Edge Training. “We have always been committed to equipping professionals with skills that drive personal development impacting business success, and we look forward to continuing this mission in the years to come.”
A Moment for Edge Training: Key Achievements Over the Years
- Training over 10000 professionals in corporate and vocational sectors across industries
- Partnering with over 500 leading organisations to improve unemployment and disability
- Bolstering our SETA accreditation status to include:
- CATHSSETA
- ETDP SETA
- MICT SETA
- QCTO
- SERVICES SETA
- TETA SETA
- W&R SETA
- Supporting businesses with BEE compliance and transformation initiatives
- Introducing new digital learning solutions to make training more accessible
- Employing over 50 staff across 3 key branches nationwide
- Expanding our training offering to include:
- 16 SETA accredited learnerships
- 19 QCTO part and full qualifications
- 20 Accredited short courses
- 23 Unaccredited soft skills courses
- Creating strategic partnerships to deliver authentic transformation opportunities to rising sports players
Fighting the good fight: Overcoming Challenges both Past and Present
As part of its 25th-anniversary celebration, Edge Training is launching a series of wellness and coaching webinars, as well as new skills development programs tailored for modern workplace demands. To add to our existing offering, Edge aims to expand its QCTO occupational qualifications into the Manufacturing, Textiles, Banking, Accounting and Property sectors – providing a one stop shop offering for South African businesses.
The company aims to invest more resources into improving our online training platform and client portal to support businesses in remote and hybrid work environments outside our major cities.
“We are excited to bring innovative learning solutions that address the evolving needs of today’s workforce,” added National Operations Director, Zwakele Luthuli. “Our next goal is to continue expanding and delivering high-impact training that drives real business growth across sectors.”
A Look Ahead: Future Plans and Innovations
As part of its 25th-anniversary celebration, Edge Training is launching a series of wellness and coaching webinars, as well as new skills development programs tailored for modern workplace demands. To add to our existing offering, Edge aims to expand its QCTO occupational qualifications into the Manufacturing, Textiles, Banking, Accounting and Property sectors – providing a one stop shop offering for South African businesses.
The company aims to invest more resources into improving our online training platform and client portal to support businesses in remote and hybrid work environments outside our major cities.
“We are excited to bring innovative learning solutions that address the evolving needs of today’s workforce,” added National Operations Director, Zwakele Luthuli. “Our next goal is to continue expanding and delivering high-impact training that drives real business growth across sectors.”
Living our Mantra: Continuing to Add Value and Change Lives
As we build, the mission and vision along with Edge’s slogan remain at the forefront of our organisation. Truly acting as our northern star positively seeping into every employee, stakeholder, customer interaction, student engagement, sponsorship and partnership even so much as to each critical decision made within the company, what remains is the impact it will have, or rather how will it add value and change lives.
Joining the Celebration: This Milestone is Thanks to You
As Edge Training marks 25 years of empowering businesses and professionals, the company invites clients, partners, and industry leaders to be part of the celebration. This belongs to everyone who has been a part of the journey.
For more details or to find the right training solution for your training initiatives, visit our training page.