cal providers in our area. All of them were
coming up from Calgary and Edmonton or
out of province,” Pruden said.
More than a decade later, his part-time
venture, Wapose Emergency Services,
has grown into one of the nation’s largest
emergency services providers under Ab-
original ownership. It has an annual rev-
enue of over $6 million, which is 28 times
higher than that of the average Canadian
company in this sector. Services include
not just ambulance but everything from
medical staffing to setting up on-site clin-
ics. Another speciality of Wapose is oc-
cupational therapy, which involves every-
thing from drug testing to helping people
get back to work after an injury. It also has
a firefighting division consisting of 50 fire-
fighters and fire trucks to respond to emer-
gencies around the community.
“We have the largest amount of equip-
ment and manpower ready in Fort Mc-
Murray. We’ve had a lot of success, a lot
of happy clients, and all of our clients are
returning clients,” Pruden said, adding that
manpower is the predominant factor be-
hind the company’s success. In the first
two years of starting the company, Pruden
led a solo show, balancing a full-time job
with his days off being devoted toWapose.
Eventually, the number grew to about five
and then doubled. Right now, Wapose em-
ploys 64 full-time people.
CHALLENGES OF THE PAST,
PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT
When Pruden first emerged as an en-
trepreneur, the biggest challenge was
funding — an issue because he received
backing from neither the banks nor the Ab-
original Business Canada (ABC) since he
held on to his full-time job while managing
Wapose. “So I funded it myself,” Pruden
OCTOBER 2016
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