About us
The ScappaTopo team
Carla Delfino
CEO & Founder R&D
Katia De Luca
Production & Logistic
Prof. Angela Zampella
Consultant (University of Napoli)
Ugo Gaspardone
Copy
Sergio Delfino
Partner & Founder
Franco Abitante
IT Manager
Salvo Assenza
CFO
Gaetano Sorangelo
Graphic designer
Prof. Giuseppe Cirino
Consultant (University of Napoli)
Prof. Alberto Boffi
Consultant (University of Roma)
Leslie Esposito
Web marketing
Gabriella Bertuccioli
Regulatory Affairs
Diego Corvaro
Branding- Video maker
Our company is focused on developing Made in Italy products. Our 5000 sq. mt. facility is located on the out skirts of Rome, Italy.
The existing in-house resources, researchers and stakeholders have worked together for years on various projects and are extremely enthusiastic about opportunities that will arise with our research-driven approach to new products.
In the future, we plan to have even a larger range of environmentally friendly, non-toxic repellents available for a variety of pests.
Our goal is to eliminate accidental deaths and poisonings, fire damage caused by gnawing, and improve the general public health through better pest control repellents, to be used where people live, work, and play.
We believe that this is possible without any toxic chemicals or killing solutions.
An interview with Carla Delfino (CEO)
Wherever there are humans, there are generally even more rodents below ground, prolific breeders who spread disease and chew through electric cables.
When it comes to getting rid of them, solutions range from the murderous to the macabre: not only are they cruel and frequently ineffective, they’re generally toxic to pets and humans. ‘We tend to think that bio-repellent solutions that are safe for the environment will be too weak to work,’ says Carla Delfino, whose company, Imperial Europe, has come up with a harmless and effective solution. Its product, ScappaTopo®, which means ‘runaway mouse’ in Italian – offers a non-toxic, environmentally friendly way to control rodents instead of killing them. Because by killing, we push mice to increase their number.
Carla is a serial entrepreneur. The idea for ScappaTopo came to her through a friend working with a telecommunication firm that had issues with rats and mice chewing cables. ‘They tried poison, but rodents become resistant to it,’ Carla explains, ‘in the UK rats can get so big and bait resistant, they need to shoot them!’ Intrigued by this scenario – and despite a very real phobia about mice – Carla set about finding a solution to repel them rather than kill them.
Rat race
She set about researching traditional remedies, which took her on some interesting travels. ‘I visited native Americans to discover their remedies, such as peppermint, for example,’ she relates. ‘I studied Ancient Egypt and travelled to Hong Kong, spending days in a library.’ Back in Italy, Carla perfected her own patented formula and approached the University of Naples and La Sapienza University in Rome to test her prototypes on two varieties of mice: lab mice, which are meek and mild, and wild mice, ‘which are ferocious! Just catching them was so difficult!’
Special mazes were built and all tests produced extremely positive results. The concept is simple and 100% organic: housed in a paper box, a pouch filled with the patented recipe, essential oils, natural elements and corncobs sends out strong odorous multi sensorial signals that stress mice and dissuade them from approaching. Carla explains. ‘The micro-holes in the corncobs are perfect for storing the oils and releasing them slowly. For me the customer is not the human buying the product, it’s the mouse! The product must send out alarming signals to mice.’
Clean sweep
Carla promptly proposed product trials to a pest management company and several electricity firms; the latter completed their tests: ‘after three weeks of ScappaTopo, their cable boxes were clean – no droppings.
Three months later, still none!’ Launched in late 2014, the product is safe to use everywhere and around pets. Carla, since she received, the first Italian, the Cartier Women Initiative Awards in 2014, she has launched a powerful communication campaign. ‘This is a revolution and we need to tell its story. I want to see ScappaTopo in every European pet shop, organic market, nautical store…
I’m an entrepreneur, I know when I “smell” a good business!’
