APOPO was nominated and accepted into the 'Phoenix 50 List' by Volans and SustainAbility networks. The 'Phoenix 50 List' highlights enterprises, corporations and government agencies making significant contributions toward building more equitable, more sustainable global economy. The Phoenix project seeks to identify the 50 businesses, organizations and government institutions that will rise after the current economic recession: “A new economic order is rising form the ashes—and a new generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and investors is accelerating the changes essential for delivering scalable sustainable solutions to the world.” The list also points out that small enterprises are incredibly important in this new economic order. “Even solutions developed by tiny enterprises can vault to the point of addressing macro issues, like APOPO with its ‘sniffer rats’ hunting out landmines, helping to underscore the significance of the multi-dimensional security agenda” (The Phoenix Economy: 50 Pioneers in the Business of Social Innovation). Others on the Phoenix 50 list include Google, Ashoka, The Grameen Group, and Mothers2Mothers.

The Skoll Foundation's mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs. APOPO won the 2009 Skoll Award for social entrepreneurship, which provided a substantial capacity building grant, helping APOPO to become a sustainable social enterprise.