Entrepreneur Richard Branson made a guest appearance at Virgin Voyages’ Small Business Bootcamp in Bimini, while the Scarlet Lady was docked in Bimini as part of Branson’s special Birthday Voyage, according to a press release.

The three-day event at Resorts World Bimini was organized by Virgin Voyages in collaboration with the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship and the Ministry of Tourism with the goal of empowering local business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in the Bahamas, according to Virgin Voyages.

The 30 entrepreneurs who attended the event also received hands-on training in business modeling and a one-on-one discussion with Branson Centre experts on how to resolve their business challenges.

“This three-day training event is the latest demonstration of our commitment to the incredible island of Bimini. We want to ensure that the local economy benefits from increased tourism to the island and the community gets excited when they see our ships in port,” commented Jill Stoneberg, senior director of sustainability and social impact, Virgin Voyages.

Extending their small business initiative, Virgin also teamed up with Virgin Unite to create a “Sea Change Fund” to support mangrove forest restoration projects in the Caribbean. Guests on the Scarlet Lady were encouraged to make a donation to help support and scale partners working to protect this ecosystem.

“Working with Virgin Unite, we believe this is a start of an exciting program of work that will create an epic sea change in mangrove conservation across the region and act as a blueprint for other parts of the world,” Stoneberg added.