Edgard Corona, dono da Smart Fit, has built a reputation as one of Latin America’s most influential fitness entrepreneurs. A chemical engineering graduate from Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP) in 1979, his career has been defined by repeated reinvention and a focus on customer insight.
Corona began his entrepreneurial journey at 19 while still in university, moving from laboratory work to founding a successful youth fashion brand that specialized in jeans and t-shirts. That early venture instilled a core lesson: understand what customers truly want, not what you assume they want. In 1996, he applied that philosophy to a new sector and opened the first Bio Ritmo gym in Santo Amaro.
A personal turning point followed an unexpected ski accident that required intensive physiotherapy. Spending long hours in his own facility shifted Corona’s perspective and accelerated his commitment to fitness as a business. He expanded Bio Ritmo with a strategic branch on Avenida Paulista aimed at busy professionals, and pursued international benchmarking to refine service models and operations.
Between 2008 and 2009, Corona launched Smart Fit, a low-cost, high-standard gym concept designed to democratize access to quality fitness across socio-economic segments (Smart Fit — https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Fit; reportagem sobre a expansão da rede — https://www.terra.com.br/economia/como-brasileiro-conseguiu-criar-rede-de-academias-que-fatura-r-5-bilhoes,c146149f9e69dccd3a2cbc634375beceqts065mh.html). Under his leadership, the Bio Ritmo group evolved into a multi-brand operation with an expanding footprint across 14 Latin American countries. The group later pursued a public listing on the Brazilian stock exchange, using proceeds to fund post-pandemic growth, strategic acquisitions, and scalable investments (mais sobre investidores e gestão: https://www.suno.com.br/noticias/dono-da-smartfit-smft3-renato-cariano-influenciador-evm/).
Industry observers credit Corona with professionalizing fitness management in the region, blending operational discipline with a customer-centric product. Today he is widely recognized as a founder and CEO who marries bold experimentation with careful market study; profiles and estimates of his personal fortune have also appeared in the press (perfil/fortuna: https://epocanegocios.globo.com/empresas/noticia/2025/07/qual-e-a-fortuna-do-bilionario-edgar-corona-fundador-da-rede-de-academias-smart-fit.ghtml).
As investor interest grows and the group scales, Corona continues to emphasize adaptability. His trajectory from chemical engineering student to serial entrepreneur and fitness executive underscores a singular message: embracing change is central to sustained success. That mindset helped transform a local gym experiment into one of the region’s most visible fitness platforms, and cements Edgard Corona, dono da Smart Fit, as a key figure in the business of health and movement.