Case Study
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
OVERVIEW
Period: 2025-Present (Ad Hoc)
Region: South Africa
Sector: Space, Innovation
We were first introduced to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through our work with Innovate UK’s Global Alliance Africa project, later going on to support the UK in South Africa team’s efforts as they took over the project’s space-related work in South Africa. Plane Talking supports the FCDO with a variety of tasks across both the space and broader innovation sectors on a needs basis.
Services Provided
Event management – This includes all aspects of event management, from conceptualising the brief, developing the programme and onboarding speakers, to managing invitations and RSVPs, sourcing quotes and coordinating suppliers (including flights, accommodation, transport, catering, décor and equipment hire), managing and MCing events on the day, and reporting afterwards.
Copywriting – Writing, editing and revising content for internal and external channels, including press releases, blog articles, opinion editorials, social media content, video scripts and presentation slides.
Graphic Design – Conceptualising on-brand visual assets for events and social media, and developing layouts and formatting print-ready documents including briefing packs, policy briefs and reports.
Media Relations – Pitching story ideas to journalists covering space, science and technology in South Africa; managing media queries and interview requests; and preparing spokespeople for effective media engagement.
Notable Projects
SA Space Showcase (2025–26) – With the Innovate UK Global Alliance Africa project coming to an end, the organisation sought to transfer knowledge and relationships to the FCDO, with the aim that it would take over the initiative. To support this process, we were responsible for organising a six-day tour of the Western Cape Space Cluster for a group of executives from national space agencies and companies in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the African Union. In addition to managing flights, accommodation, catering and ground transport, our team developed the tour programme and itinerary. This included onboarding key speakers and participants, arranging site visits to local start-ups, organising a one-day seminar at a local university, coordinating tours of national key points and facilitating networking opportunities.
SBRI Colloquium (2026) – Ahead of South Africa gazetting draft changes to public procurement law for public comment, the FCDO, in partnership with the Technology Innovation Agency of South Africa, asked Plane Talking to organise a one-day seminar as a flagship event of the SA Innovation Summit in Johannesburg. The aim of the event was to explore how the draft law could better support innovators and start-ups in accessing public procurement initiatives, recognising both the state’s role as the largest buyer of goods in the country and the risks and opportunities associated with innovation. We were responsible for the entire event, including developing the programme, onboarding speakers, coordinating logistics and suppliers, managing RSVPs and ensuring the event ran smoothly. The insights gathered were later developed into a policy brief, which was presented to the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation. We also managed this process.
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