Meet Agustin ‘Ucho’ Kuta who ventured into the football boot business in Kenya

AfricaPress-Kenya: “One challenge is most teams in Kenya don’t pay that well for players to afford several football boots in a single season. It can be challenging for one to start the business having ready supply since they’ll lack the market to sell to…”

These are the words of one Agustin Kuta, a professional footballer in Kenya, who chose to not only enjoy the sport by playing it but also helping those like him share the same experience as well.

Kuta, popularly known as ‘Ucho’ is a father of two. Having sharpened his football skills in Moi University, Kesses, Uasin Gishu County, the Ingwe (AFC Leopards) and Arsenal die-hard has had stints professionally with top football clubs in Kenya including now obsolete Vihiga All-Stars, Palos FC in the National Super League (now Kisumu All-Stars), Kisumu Hot-Stars and Nairobi Stima.

Much recently, Kuta donned the colours of Western Stima in the Kenyan Premier League (KPL).

His football-playing career, however, came under immense threat following a knee injury that required surgery last year.

This, Kuta says, has made him contemplate something else…

While on campus, Kuta pursued a Degree in Business Management together with a long-time friend, who he says, floated the idea of venturing into the business of selling football boots.

Equipped with a strong network of footballers in Kenya’s top tier leagues, he and his friend carried the idea with them post-graduation, to which they managed to erect a small business in Nairobi, Kenya.

“Back on campus a friend and I always had a dream of doing business together. I play football professionally and having pursued a degree in business management, he introduced me to the idea and having interacted with many professional footballers, I saw it a smart idea that would suit me fine,” Kuta narrated to Standard Digital’s Game Yetu.

Selling football boots in Kenya is not easy. Just as a marriage-seeking woman is picky when choosing a husband, so is a professional footballer when buying boots.

Kuta acknowledges this and admits he has to sometimes engage players to know what they exactly want, before bringing a product to the market.

However, contacting them directly doesn’t always do the trick. Kuta has to subject himself to loads of research, which is heavily aided by his love for football. He, just like many footballers, has his television decoder subscribed to most football channels, not only intending to enjoy live matches but also for observation and identification of his clients’ needs.

“Aside from going for what’s trending in the big leagues, I interact with the players and engage them via text on what appeals to most of them. This information is what I use to make orders to my supplier. Also, I watch a lot of EPL, La Liga and Serie A matches which helps in identifying what’s trending. The internet plays a big role,” he explains.

Kuta, whose boots’ prices range from Sh3500 to 4500 tells of how different factors play part in a footballer’s selection of boots, which he says allows him to evaluate client needs at a particular time, consequently leading to a decision on what type of football boots to order.

“Most players, before checking the quality of the boot, consider what’s latest in the market, which is usually worn by their favourite players abroad. Others consider the type of playing surface they mostly use before picking a pair. Depending on the weather conditions or the type of playing surface, then the player would look at the sole of the boot before buying it. For instance, rainy conditions would favour football boots with mixed studs, either rubber or aluminum studs,” he says.

Footballers are not at fault for being this picky when it comes to boots. In the 70s and 80s, football boots had differences few and far between.

With the turn of the century, more ‘slick’ designs sprung up, as soccer boot manufacturers took into consideration the playing surfaces and the different types of players.

Fashion also played a major role in the designs, as some boots had to correspond to specific brands. Some players also wanted to look stunning on the pitch and would have loved the same calibre of boots while doing so.

Kuta has played football with both sets of boots and admits the modern type has more demand due to their ‘compatible’ nature.

“Modern football boots are light, unlike the old ones. They are modified to suit different weather conditions and playing surfaces unlike back in the day when that wasn’t really factored in during manufacturing. Modern boots are flashy and have different textures, unlike in the old days when it was just either black or white and leather was just it,” he explains.

Selling football boots is a competition just like a game of football. For Kuta, selling doesn’t stop after money exchanges hands. He has to make sure his customers come back to him on the next payday.

He cites ‘good customer service’ as the secret ingredient to keeping his brand lovers. He says punctuality matters a lot when it comes to delivering to a client. Apart from that, he spontaneously offers incentives to regular customers.

“It’s all about good customer service, I ensure I deliver on time and being loyal to my prices i.e. charging an equivalent fair price to all, regardless of the league a player plays. To top it up, I offer special discounts to regular customers once in a while,” Kuta reveals.

According to him, the football boot business in the country has the potential to thrive, because interest in the sport is significant.

He argues most players nowadays prefer being comfortable on the pitch and would go the lengths of buying cleats every month if their paycheques allowed them.

“Footballers love to play in comfortable and quality boots and being a footballer I know the feeling of playing in new cleats and why I would want to have a new one each time I get paid,” he says.

Kuta is faced with the challenge of huge supply and low demand, considering the nature of player wages in Kenyan leagues. He says footballers in the country would love to afford a cleat every month but can’t.

He, however, plans to expand his business further, with the hope that he inspires more footballers to get to the very top. If it won’t be by providing an assist, he hopes to be the one that provides the boot that does.

“I am currently recovering but contemplating to hang my boots and concentrate on expanding my football boots business to something bigger,” he concludes.

Agustin Kuta owns Kuta Collections.