A Common Facility Centre giving traditional craft clusters shared machinery, training, design help, and market access.
Akola has 21,907 manufacturing MSMEs. 37.3% 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.
76% of registered enterprises are in services while 24% are in manufacturing. Only 5% of employment is in small and medium enterprises. 77% of school-age children are enrolled in higher secondary school (classes 9–12).
In Akola, which ranks 28 of 36 in Maharashtra for youth opportunity, the overall opportunity score is 43.8 out of 100. It runs ahead of the national picture on employment in small and medium enterprises at 4.6% and value added per enterprise worker at ₹1,80,924.