Surrey, United Kingdom – (The Hosting News) – December 1, 2008 – Dedicated web hosting company entrepreneur, Memset’s Kate Craig-Wood, has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading business owners, after earning a placement in the NatWest everywoman award finals.

In their sixth year, the awards acknowledge female entrepreneurs, across all ages and sectors. Kate Craig-Wood’s business, Memset, has been shortlisted for the Demeter Award, sponsored by IBM, for the most inspiring entrepreneur aged between 26 and 35.

Helen Cook, Leader UK Women’s Leadership Team, IBM noted, ‘IBM shares everywoman’s vision in celebrating the achievements of women and encouraging them to realise their potential. The finalists in this year’s awards are real role models, bringing innovation and inspiration to others by proving the ‘impossible’ can happen and helping to give confidence to other young women starting on the same journey.”

Ms. Craig-Wood commenced her career in IT consultancy and business development, within the Internet hosting sector, after receiving a Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences. In 2002, Ms. Craig-Wood launched Memset, offering high quality, flexible dedicated server packages. The company is now one of the UK’s leading web and IT hosting providers, with growth in the region of 75% year-on-year, an annual turnover of 1.2 million pounds. In 2006 Memset became the UK’s first CarbonNeutral ISP.

Ms. Craig-Wood is a member of the British Computer Society’s Data Centre Specialist Group, and recently became the youngest person and third woman to join the board of Intellect UK, an IT, telecoms and electronics trade association, whose members represent roughly 15% of UK GDP. This has given Kate a platform to be the only woman from the SME sector who has a voice at a national level and her involvement with their energy and efficiency group allows her to embrace her passion for the environment and promote the green IT agenda. In addition, she also recently undertook the world’s first skydive over Mount Everest to raise money for Computer Clubs 4 Girls, which aims to attract more girls to the sector, by improving their technology skills.

Ms. Ms. Craig-Wood commented, ”I hope to use my success as a woman in the IT industry to inspire others and bring about change in an industry with a dire shortage of women.”

Amanda Chenery, local ambassador for NatWest Women in Business commented, ”As a bank we are always looking to help women enjoy the rewards of running their own business and since launching our Women in Business Service we have helped over 18,000 new customers. Kate is a great role model and I hope her success encourages others to make their dream of running a business a reality. These awards recognise some of the UK’s most inspirational female entrepreneurs, so getting this far is an incredible achievement in itself.”

Karen Gill, co-founder of everywoman added, ”The quality of the entries this year was truly phenomenal. All of the finalists are shining examples of women who have achieved great success, regardless of what life has thrown at them, and it’s fantastic to be able to celebrate their triumphs. We wish them all the best of luck for these awards.”

The winners will be announced at a lunch ceremony on 3 December at the famous Dorchester Hotel in London, where guests will include VIPs from the fields of business, government, the media and the entertainment industry.

Memset is a dedicated web hosting company, established in November 2002. The company was the first to offer high quality, flexible dedicated server packages on a fair and scalable pricing model. The development of their Miniserver technology has enabled Memset to be recognised as the leading developer and supplier of virtual dedicated server systems in the UK. Memset is Britain’s first Carbon Neutral ISP and has been voted best UK Web Host 2006, 2007 and 2008 by PC Pro readers.

For further information on Memset, visit: www.memset.com.

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