A Common Facility Centre giving traditional craft clusters shared machinery, training, design help, and market access.
Kollam has 20,157 manufacturing MSMEs. 67.7% of self-employment loans go to the district's top industry. The Common Facility Centre under SFURTI gives artisan clusters shared equipment they could not afford individually.
73% of registered enterprises are in services while 27% are in manufacturing. Only 6% of employment is in small and medium enterprises. 90% of school-age children are enrolled in higher secondary school (classes 9–12).
In Kollam, which ranks 6 of 15 in Kerala for youth opportunity, the overall opportunity score is 56.7 out of 100. It runs ahead of the national picture on employment in small and medium enterprises at 6.3% and value added per enterprise worker at ₹1,64,717.