Fiona Riddick

CMK

CMK is a homegrown business advisory that started off in Stratford more than 70 years ago.  Fastforward to 2021 and the firm now have offices in New Plymouth, Stratford and Hawera with a 28 member strong team.  Being a Taranaki business, supporting agricultural business has always been a big part of what they do. Nowadays they look after a balanced mix of clients from small sole traders to businesses with more than 100 employees.

We caught up with one of their Associates, Fiona Riddick.

Originally hailing from Ireland, Fiona had met her husband abroad, and eventually they made their way back to his hometown of Taranaki.  She took a job with CMK 12 years ago in the Stratford office, and during that time progressed her training, and is now one of the senior associates for the firm.

“I really enjoy working with businesses, especially since COVID as we’re seeing so much change with people adapting to operating in a more challenging environment, and implementing new strategies to drive their business to succeed.”

The firm also play an active part in the business community, having recently judged the Taranaki Business Awards.

“It was an incredibly rewarding experience, we were blown away by the range of businesses as well as the calibre – it was phenomenal and made judging pretty difficult!

We also noticed a lot of professional leaders in the community lending their expertise to charity, which really showed us the heart of Taranaki and how much we are committed to helping others,” she adds.

In this vein we had updated our popular business resource Know your numbers just before COVID hit, and the timing has proved to be perfect. It’s the kind of book anyone can pick up and understand, it’s filled with practical business advice, and you don’t need to have a head for numbers at all, Fiona explains.

CMK have been based in the West End Precinct for the last two years, but had been looking for the right office space in New Plymouth for a while.

“We’d always been travelling in to meet people, so we were really looking for a place to call home and connect with our clients,” Fiona says.

“It’s been a fantastic base from which to continue to grow our business in New Plymouth, and the wider Taranaki region.”

The thing I love most about the West End Precinct is the vibe.  It’s busy, there are a lot of people around, there’s great coffee, fantastic restaurants. It’s a nice hub in the heart of New Plymouth.