We just wrapped up a group presentation for our MBA module, Strategic Financial Management, at the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), and the feedback we received was better than we expected.
The content, structure, and delivery were appreciated, but what stood out most to our lecturer was the design of our slides. The colors, fonts, layout, and overall brand consistency were specifically highlighted. It felt good to hear that because slide design was not something we treated as decoration. We saw it as part of how the story is understood, and how the content lands.
We built the presentation around the core theme of Globalization of Finance, tracing its evolution from early international trade to the rise of borderless digital financial systems. We unpacked key drivers such as market liberalization, multinational corporate capital demand, financial innovation, and technology-enabled cross border financial flows. The discussion also moved into benefits, risks, and emerging trends shaping finance today.
A major section of our slides focused on financial instability risks, referencing global economic shocks like the 2008 market crash, currency devaluation pressures in emerging markets, and supply chain-linked financial vulnerabilities. These were not added for dramatic effect, but to show that globalization of finance is not just capital mobility. It is systemic exposure. The ability to absorb global financial flows also means absorbing global financial shocks.
Toward the end, we explored current financial globalization trends, particularly CBDCs, ESG-led capital allocation, DeFi expansion, and tightening global regulatory coordination. The slide on CBDCs emphasized China’s Digital Yuan as the first major state-backed digital currency, built to improve payment efficiency while reducing dependency on the USD in global settlement layers. The ESG section referenced global asset managers like BlackRock, shifting capital toward renewable infrastructure, sustainable investment mandates, and climate-aligned portfolios. The DeFi slide unpacked blockchain’s role as a distributed public ledger enabling transparency, accessibility, and cost compression in global financial services. Finally, the regulation slide tied it together by highlighting governments tightening frameworks around digital finance to manage financial crime, tax leakage, and cybersecurity threats.
All of this was structured, simplified, and delivered through examples so the ideas could be understood without needing prior exposure to the topic.
The Team Behind the Screens
A huge part of this outcome was the work that happened when no one was watching. Late-night Google Meets, endless iterations, shared screens, research debates, alignment arguments, and a collective obsession with getting the flow right.
For that, I have to credit the team who made it work:
- Nuwan Dadallage
- Indika De Silva
- Priyadharshini Sivalingam
- Thejani Gardiyawasam
- Bandula Wijesinghe
- Lakeesha Bandara
- Deepika Rajshankar
- Ruchira Perera
A team this sharp makes the work feel lighter, even when the topic is heavy.
Why This Milestone Matters
What this taught me is simple: tools, templates, frameworks, and platforms help. But progress actually happens when people treat the process as the product.
Good communication is not the message. It is the follow-through.
Good design is not aesthetic. It is structure.
Good learning is not consuming. It is doing.
And sometimes a presentation is not a deliverable. It becomes a timestamp of where your thinking, your skills, and your circle were at a specific point in time.
For reference, I have attached the presentation we did. If you want to understand globalization of finance, or even just the power of design in financial storytelling, it is all there in the structure of the slides themselves.
