Some entrepreneurs build businesses around opportunity. Others build them around a problem they are determined to solve.
For Ankita Sharma, the idea behind FigFinder AI began with a frustration she had experienced repeatedly while travelling the world.
After visiting more than 50 countries, Ankita understood the excitement of discovering somewhere new, but she also knew how overwhelming the planning process could become. Endless blogs, conflicting recommendations, complicated itineraries and hours spent comparing information often made preparing for a trip feel more exhausting than the journey itself.
Rather than accepting this as an unavoidable part of travelling, Ankita saw an opportunity to create something better.
Today, she is the Founder and CEO of FigFinder AI, an innovative travel technology platform designed to help travellers spend less time researching and more time experiencing the world.
The platform provides personalised destination guides, curated itineraries, hidden gems, local recommendations and practical travel information. Its purpose is simple: to remove the pressure from planning while helping people make more meaningful memories.
Behind the technology is a businesswoman with more than 12 years of international experience across New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Before launching FigFinder AI, Ankita built an impressive career in technology, working as a Business Analyst and leading digital transformation projects for organisations including Formula 1, financial institutions and technology companies.
Her corporate experience gave her a strong understanding of systems, customer needs and the power of technology to simplify complicated processes. However, the idea behind FigFinder AI came from something far more personal.
Every time Ankita travelled, she encountered the same problem.
Planning should have been exciting, but too often it became time-consuming, confusing and stressful. She believed there had to be a faster, smarter and more personalised way to help travellers decide where to go, what to see and how to make the most of their time.
That belief became the foundation of the company she leads today.
Building a technology business while continuing to work full-time required discipline, sacrifice and determination. The journey involved late nights, early mornings and learning skills far beyond her original area of expertise.
Branding, marketing, legal processes, product development and business strategy all became part of the experience.
There were setbacks, moments of doubt and occasions when progress felt slower than expected. However, each challenge strengthened Ankita’s belief that successful businesses are not built through perfection. They are built through persistence.
That philosophy has shaped both FigFinder AI and Ankita’s development as a founder.
She has learned to listen closely, adapt quickly and continue moving forward, even when the path is uncertain. For Ankita, entrepreneurship has never been about having every answer from the beginning. It has been about taking action, learning through experience and improving with every decision.
What continues to motivate her is not simply the opportunity to build an innovative technology company. It is knowing that something she created can genuinely make people’s lives easier.
Every traveller who spends less time researching and more time exploring represents the purpose behind FigFinder AI.
It is proof that innovation does not always have to solve the world’s largest problems. Sometimes, the greatest impact comes from identifying an everyday frustration and having the vision to improve it.
Looking ahead, Ankita has ambitious plans for the company.
New destinations, smarter personalisation and international growth are already part of FigFinder AI’s future. As the platform continues to develop, Ankita remains focused on creating a travel-planning experience that is intelligent, affordable and accessible.
Her ambitions also extend beyond the success of the business itself.
As a woman working across technology, travel and entrepreneurship, Ankita hopes her journey will encourage other women to trust their ideas and recognise the value of their own experience.
She understands how easy it can be to wait for the perfect moment, the perfect plan or reassurance that an idea will succeed.
Her advice is simple but powerful.
Start before you feel ready.
Confidence, she believes, rarely appears before the first step is taken. It grows through experience, difficult decisions, mistakes and the willingness to keep showing up.
If Ankita could speak to her younger self, she would not tell her to work harder or dream bigger. She would simply say, “Trust yourself sooner.”
Fear has a way of convincing people that they are not ready. Yet the biggest opportunities often begin when they choose to move forward despite that uncertainty.
For Ankita, success is not measured only by business growth, technology or international expansion.
It is measured by purpose.
It is about building something meaningful, remaining curious, embracing every lesson and proving that one determined idea can grow into something with global potential.
Ankita Sharma represents a new generation of business leaders: internationally experienced, technologically innovative and deeply connected to the problem her company was created to solve.
Her journey from global technology professional to Founder and CEO is a powerful example of what can happen when passion is supported by persistence.
Sometimes, the greatest journeys do not begin with a plane ticket.
They begin with a woman who believes she can change the way the world travels.